Dear editor,

An 11-year-old boy had a dispute with a friend and it ended up in the partial decapitation of the 14- year-old friend. In effect, two lives may have ended on that sad day.

It is no secret that Jamaica’s flirtations with a most violent and murderous sub-culture has had an indelible impact on the nation’s young and most vulnerable.

Not only are they being murdered, they have become murderers.

We must not accept this state of affairs as the new normal. It goes without saying that urgent action is required to stem this tide, and one area where we can possible make a significant inroad is in the arena of education.

The current divide which sees a majority of students (and parents) vying for space in more traditional institutions, to the detriment of non-traditional schools, has effectively contributed to a kind of “apartheid” education system.

In this system, the schools which are in need of most assistance, for instance Cumberland High, find themselves effectively left out in the cold.

This atmosphere then results in the job of educators becoming more difficult, especially as it relates to discipline among students.

This situation provides a ripe opportunity for the re-evaluation of the Education Ministry’s reactive policy towards discipline in schools. With the removal of corporal punishment effective means must be devised to ensure that students who are exposed to a murderous and violent culture do not seek to replicate this behaviour on school campuses across the country.

Apart from greater support and funding for nascent institutions, perhaps a change in the curriculum at the nation’s teacher training institutions, with added emphasis on a more “social work” approach to teaching, may yield some assistance.

Noel Matherson