Ministry takes the fight to school violence

The Ministry of Education and Youth has expanded its preventative measures in schools to curb the incidence of violence, portfolio Minister Fayval Williams has said.

That disclosure comes after a student at Cedar Grove Academy in Portmore, St Catherine, stabbed a schoolmate during an altercation on the compound on Monday.

The injured student has since been discharged from hospital.

Reports are that both students had a dispute that spilled over when they entered the school premises.

“It is quite disheartening when we hear of these kinds of incidents in our schools. We do not want our children to normalise violence, so the ministry has taken a multifaceted approach to prevent incidents of this nature,” Williams said in a Gleaner interview on Tuesday.

“We have been paying attention and have increased the number of guidance counsellors who are able to observe students who are displaying violent tendencies and intervene.”

The education minister said that there has been a ramping up of closed-circuit television surveillance and the use of metal detectors at school gates. There has also been increased emphasis on random searches of students, she said.

Williams said that teachers are required to refer students displaying troubling behaviour to guidance counsellors for psychosocial support and other intervention.

“Additionally, we have secured the services of trained psychologists and psychiatrists that are available on demand for guidance counsellors to refer students to in cases where such intervention is warranted,” Williams disclosed.

Williams said that a key element of the ministry’s crisis management programme is a collaboration with the Ministry of Justice for restorative justice sessions to help students defuse conflicts that could escalate to violence.

The Ministry of Education has also embarked on more rigorous protocols for the collection of data on school attendance.

Meanwhile, acting commander of the St Catherine South Police Division, Assistant Superintendent Hopton Nicholson, said that the Cedar Grove Academy incident was still being investigated.

He declined to provide any further details on the investigation.

Meanwhile, acting principal of Cedar Grove Academy, Jonnella Prince, was unavailable for comment when The Gleaner repeatedly reached out to her office Tuesday. She was said to be in a meeting each time.

Last year, two school fights – at William Knibb Memorial in Trelawny and Kingston Technical High in the capital – ended in fatalities.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com