MINISTER of Education Rev Ronald Thwaites has expressed concern over the number of reports reaching his office involving students displaying uncontrolled levels of anger at schools across the island.

“I am very concerned about the levels of uncontrolled anger that we are finding at all levels in our schools,” Thwaites told the Jamaica Observer last Friday.

He made the comment hours after an incident at Tarrant High School in St Andrew in which a dispute between a teacher and a student caused classes at the institution to be disrupted.

“There was indeed an altercation between a teacher and a student at Tarrant; the school’s internal security officers were able to address the situation and were able to bring the incident under control,” the minister said.

Thwaites said he is now waiting to receive a full report from the acting principal.

“I was in my class when I heard the commotion and saw a large gathering; when I inquired I was told that there was an incident with a student and a teacher,” an official from the school who asked not to be named told the Observer.

The minister said the incident is the latest in a number of reports that have been reaching his desk regarding students showing uncontrollable levels of anger at school.

To address the problem, ministry officials said they would be carrying out more discussion with stakeholders including guidance counsellors, and other medical personnel in schools across the island.

In September a teacher at

a popular high school was attacked and beaten after she refused to allow a student who had left her class without permission to re-enter.

Earlier this year a teacher at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) Cyprian Moncrieffe was attacked and killed. The incident and several others have triggered condemnation from the Jamaica Teachers’ Association who also raised concern over what it claimed as the “continuing attack on teachers as they engage in the business of teaching on a daily basis”.