Talking about domestic violence in schools

Domestic violence prevention advocates have always aimed to ensure that schools are an important place to talk about domestic violence and child abuse.
The advocates recognised that the awareness in students would help to break the cycle in the next generation of relationships. In addition, PTAs were also venues to raise awareness , not only to break the silence but to also highlight how domestic violence affected children's lives.

The Ministry of Education said that they have a Health and Family Life Education curriculum. Anecdotal evidence has shown  that the implementation of the curriculum is inconsistent.

Guyana's National Domestic Violence Policy states that :-

1. The Ministry of Education will work in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security to design public awareness activities targeting students. Such activities shall be geared towards sensitising students about issues of violence and abuse, including domestic violence, gender and gender discrimination, promoting healthy relationships and non-violent behaviours and values.

2. A standardised curriculum on domestic violence will be introduced at teachers training colleges and in the distance education programme for teachers, so that trainees will be trained and equipped to teach and work with and on aforesaid awareness activities. Said teachers’ training shall be geared towards, inter alia, teaching the prevention of domestic violence, recognising signs of abuse in children/students and referring such cases appropriately. Further all teachers should be sensitised by the Ministry of Education about what the National Response Protocol is.

 It is regrettable that the Minister of Human Services and Social Security and Minister of Education have failed miserably in the implementation of this policy.

NGOs and schools have been working together, usually as part of funded projects to do public education in schools.

Help & Shelter's public education programmes have always included schools where possible. There was a specific project which targeted Fourth Form Students, and which created some resources. The Guyana Human Rights Association had also produced a DVD film and kit which could be used in schools.

Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre has also been working in Berbice.  The Ministry of Health's GB Violence Prevention Unit (the Ministry of Human Services ironically does not have any unit or department to deal with the prevention of gender based violence) has also worked in schools. The Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association has worked in schools.


These efforts largely depend on funding availability to pay persons who could go in the schools. As a result, some students might be missed in the gaps. There is no checking to see which schools are exposed, and which students participate in any of the training. A lot of the work is based around Georgetown and Region 4.

Teachers are often under pressure to finish their curricula and one lesson is that many schools welcome civil society interventions to do this kind of work. The times have to be scheduled - some times during the 'final days of the term' or on afternoons. However, it is unrealistic to rely on volunteers since many volunteers also have to earn money and some stipend should be available to pay these persons.

In a  small project I am involved in , the Head Teacher who is very overwhelmed by the demands of her school, indicated she could not find time this term for the community facilitators to work with the children. We had suggested the Grade 9 (Third Form level) is a good level to work with.


While all efforts are to be praised, and the efforts of the NGOs and interested schools have resulted in raising awareness about domestic violence, the effectiveness is limited if there are gaps and there is no consistent approach to ensure that all students would have participated in comprehensive awareness sessions.

Sessions cannot be done as 'lecturers' but should be interactive and participatory - very different from how some classes are. As a result, time is needed for the students to work through the gender dynamics, the nature of abuse and then how to work on healthy relationships and prevent abuse from escalating. The facilitators have to be trained and not use the 'teaching' methods.

I have personally found that it is more challenging for me to facilitate education sessions with students than with adults and I encourage younger facilitators to be involved.


Some persons are afraid of 'raising ants nests' because what do you do when children are ready to report that there is abuse in the home?

The Parent Teachers' Associations play an important role as the school could become a venue for teaching parents about how to deal with the relationships. Many teachers have had to try to counsel parents and  find support. Some teachers know but avoid the issue because they do not have resources available.

Since the Ministry of Education has not indicated any intentions to follow through on the policy actions, or to provide policy direction and support to teachers to deal with domestic violence, it would be up to civil society organizations, interested community members and schools to find ways of working together.  The Ministry of Education is the only place which could help with mapping schools and resources to support the education in schools.

Based on conversations and experiences with different persons, the following should be done (though it is pointless to write this list without saying who should do this work)

-  A decision should be made as to which level of students in all schools should be involved in the training. Some Grade 6 students have been talking about domestic violence during the last semester after their 'common entrance' exams.

- The Help & Shelter Fourth Form project provides a learning experience in terms of which content , resources and methodologies could be used. The resource manual could be updated and a resource toolkit prepared for facilitators. The toolkit should include multimedia as well, though some schools might not  have the equipment.

- A list of all schools should be prepared, and a mapping is done of persons who could work with the schools. It is unrealistic to expect volunteers to bear costs of transportation and materials.  There should be some annual programming to ensure that students would be able to participate continuously in the training.

- A standard training and orientation should be conducted using the resource toolkit. The facilitators who agree to participate in the school programme should indicate what kind of resources they need, including money.  (A current project is paying $2500 per 1 hour session )

The persons who would like to work with the students should have certain core competencies and skills. They should have completed secondary school education.
This document describes the role of the facilitator. There are other persons who might update this list of qualities and activities based on their own experiences.