Thousands of students targeted in anti-violence campaign
Published:Thursday | October 20, 2022 | 12:10 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Sixteen thousand students in 25 primary and high schools located in zones of special operations (ZOSOs) will be targeted for behavioural interventions later this month.
Fayval Williams, minister of education and youth, made this announcement Wednesday at Wolmer’s Boys’ School during the launch of a new campaign called ‘Just Medz It’.
She said that an Inter-Ministerial 25-School Strategy will also be operationalised as part of the Ministry of Education and Youth’s strategy to curb crime in schools.
In 2019 alone, 560 persons aged 12- 19 were arrested for category-one crimes. These included 85 for murder; 83 for shooting; 89 for rape; 43 for aggravated assault; 117 for robbery; 120 for break-ins; and 23 for larceny.
Approximately, 80 percent of Jamaican children are believed to experience psychological or physical violence administered as discipline, 64.9 percent of students are bullied at school, and 79 per cent of children witness violence in the home or community.
The Just Medz It campaign aims to increase guidance counselling services; forge policy initiatives to prevent violence in schools; promote collaboration; and empower parents, guardians, caretakers and educators to foster violence-free homes and schools.
“I’m personally devastated when a child is sexually assaulted. I’m emotionally shattered whenever a child is killed in this country. I’m heartbroken to see videos on social media with children doing harm to each other, and I’m deeply alarmed when adults attack children in private and public spaces,” Williams said.
“I feel a sense of great despair when I see members of the public turn a blind eye to abuse, especially of children, but today, I am motivated by a great sense of duty to redouble our efforts at the Ministry of Education and Youth to find new and sustained ways to partner with families through the ever-expanding role of the National Parenting Support Commission and similar organisations.”
While acknowledging that indiscipline in schools and the wider society was a chronic problem, Williams said she was not prepared to throw her hands in the air in resignation.
She called for greater engagement of the Jamaica Council of Churches, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, and the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica.
“Together, I know we’re going to find new and creative ways to stem violence in our schools. I am confident we can,” she said.
With the ubiquity of cell phones in schools, there has been an explosion of social-media videos of fights between students.
Those have climaxed in at least two killings this year, including the stabbing death of 16-year-old Michion Campbell at Kingston Technical High on September 29.
A schoolgirl has been charged with her murder.
Williams said that she sympathised with Jamaican teachers grappling with school violence.
“Our teachers are among stakeholders at the front of the fight against indiscipline. ... It is hard work in the classrooms with so many children from so many different backgrounds,” Williams said.