KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – Organisers of entertainment events are being urged to desist from placing posters and billboards with lewd material on premises housing educational institutions.

Director of the Safety and Security in Schools Programme, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Coleridge Minto, said persons continue to place posters with material that is appropriate for children, at and near schools.

He is calling for responsible use of the nation’s educational facilities. “Our schools must be places where our children can go for learning, and when they are not being used for teaching and learning, they are used for other activities that our communities can be proud of,” he said.

ASP Minto was delivering the keynote address at the awards ceremony for the Youth Gambling Prevention All-Island Poster Competition held yesterday at Rise Life Management Services’ downtown Kingston offices.

As it relates to school safety and security, he informed that the Government has earmarked $100 million for the erection of fences at various institutions across the island.

He said there has been a reduction of break-ins at schools, and urged communities to do more to protect institutions.

The poster competition, organised by Rise Life, is part of activities aimed at preventing gambling among youth, and in particular school-age adolescents, by creating awareness about the dangers that underage gaming poses.

It was sponsored by the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) and Supreme Ventures. The Kingston-based Denham Town Primary School dominated the competition, taking the first- and second-place cash prizes of $20,000 and $10,000, respectively, plus trophies, with Immaculate Conception High in St Andrew receiving a trophy and $7, 500 for placing third.

Denham Town Primary School also placed fourth, eighth, and ninth and shared tenth place with Immaculate Conception High.

Rise Life Management Services operates the only gambling prevention, treatment, research and responsible gaming programme in the Caribbean, which has been in existence for over 11 years. In order to gamble legally in Jamaica, persons must be 18 years and over.