After a week in which violence in the schools held the spotlight Minister of Education Ronald Jones is suggesting the problem lies much deeper than wayward children.
Speaking to the Weekend Nation yesterday evening following a meeting between the ministry and officials from the Grantley Adams Memorial School on the violence issue, Jones said the genesis of such outbursts of violence was outside of school.
“The issue of violence and persons in possession of sharp implements is symptomatic of deeper issues in the society and the communities. There are many undercurrents going on that would cause normally rationale children to resort to what they would term these protection devices. So the society has to understand and get to the bottom of what is causing these flare-ups and acts of violence,” the minister explained.
Jones said some of the students in the recent incidents were influenced by outside gang culture, which found its way into the school.
Along with the stabbing at Grantley Adams Memorial School on Tuesday, students from the Darryl Jordan Secondary and Frederick Smith Secondary schools were stabbed following a morning altercation on a Transport Board bus in Paynes Bay, St James last week.
Jones said he would be going into detail on the ministry’s plan to deal with the rise in violence shortly, but mentioned it would involve speaking to students and conducting random checks for weapons.
Yesterday, Opposition Leader and former Minister of Education Mia Mottley also spoke on the “completely worrisome” level of violence in the schools.
During a Press conference to respond to The Estimates at her chambers in Parliament, Mottley said: “Every other week, we are now facing problems in the school system of this country. I believe the Ministry of Education is lacking leadership.
“I believe that the misplaced priorities of these Estimates year after year has us in trouble. It’s not just about the absence of fees for university, but we have not put an emphasis on getting our primary and secondary school system correct,” she added.
The Opposition Leader also noted that preventing violence in schools needed to be handled with social interventions before the authorities went with “heavy-handed” tactics.
Jones it was unfair to target the ministry as this was not the first time such an incident occurred. (AD)
