EXECUTIVE Director of the National Youth Service Rev Adhinair Jones wants policy makers to immediately put in place serious intervention programmes from as early as the primary level, to stem the rise in indiscipline, and violence in the nation’s schools.

Jones, who pointed to the murder of three high school students over the last three weeks, said that past interventions by the government and other bodies have not been sufficient or effective.

“The interventions. have not worked because we have not stayed with the process. We have done something and there is no follow-up. There is no systematic approach to the problem. That tends to be how we treat with the problem of truancy and indiscipline in the Jamaican context,” Rev Jones told a seminar Thursday at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston to share lessons learnt from the truancy camp held in 2002.

The National Youth Service (NYS) director noted that violent episodes showing up in some schools should be viewed as parallel to what is happening within the home environments of these individuals and the society.

But there were also two important policy shifts, he said, which impacted negatively on school discipline. One was the changeover from public to private transportation system which helped to reinforce violent tendencies by exposing students to violent music and influences. The second, he said, was the introduction of a shift system in some schools which “undermines the whole thing of extra-curricular activities and school bonding that tend to affect how the children relate to the school and peers”.

Not to be overlooked, he said, were the related problems of political tribalism and political violence, compounded by the problem of “a weak educational philosophy and weak governance in some schools”.

Jones referred to a NYS study done on the nearly 170 boys who participated in the 2002 truancy camp, which showed that 85 per cent of the boys had been exposed to personal violence, 38 per cent to domestic violence and nearly 60 per cent witnessed community violence.

With regard to behavioural problems, 30 per cent had deficit hyperactivity disorder, 20 per cent had learning disorders that were never detected before coming to the camp and 19 per cent had conduct disorder.

“Our own findings and our own interaction with them at the NYS is that not enough is being done at the school level at the earlier stage to find out what is happening with the students in relation to these psychological disorders and that these disorders .are predictors concerning those who would get into crime and violence at some stage. If we miss out on the assessment at this level, I believe that there is not going to be a reasonable way of stopping the problem in the future,” said Jones.

Among his recommendations were the need for:

. a programme of early assessment from the primary level to identify students who had psychological and learning disorders;

. a non-academic co-curricular programme to diffuse tension, to enhance self-belief and social skills;

. school-based intervention programme that goes beyond the current guidance and counselling infrastructure in the school, and

which will provide facilities for debriefing and some mentoring; and

. a Jamaicanised version of the American boot camp to deal with the more hardened students with problems who cannot be helped effectively within the school system and who also pose a threat to other students.