Dear Editor,

It goes without saying that never before in our nation’s history have we witnessed the frequency and magnitude of violent acts among our students as we have been in recent time.

Various schools have tried numerous methods to curtail this untameable phenomenon, but all have proven futile thus far. We are really at a critical crossroads in our education system, and if we are not careful in how we navigate the myriad issues confronting us, we run the risk of our schools becoming havens for violent and disruptive students.

It is my opinion that societal groups, such as the Church, do have a role to play. However, we implore Minister of Education Fayval Williams to look at the broader picture to recognise that the Church by itself will not be able to have the desired impact on curbing the disruptive behaviour of our students. It is very apparent that the Christian principles that were the foundations of our upbringing have since been replaced with an impulsive tendency to resort to violence to settle grievances and disputes and, yet again, this is a reflection of a wider societal defect.

In 2004 we saw the introduction of a key ingredient to achieving peace and safety in our schools, which was a part of the wider implementation of the Safe School Programme. This initiative came on stream as the Government sought means and ways to curtail the strong link between crime and violence in our communities and schools. This programme saw police officers being trained as school resource officers (SROs) and placed in schools to mediate and stem disputes. At the time statistics showed that the rate of violent incidents in schools was lower than our current figures.

In September 2009 the Ministry of National Security with the help of Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Caribbean and the Americas (FAVACA) again trained over 20 police officers across the island to become SROs. It was said at the time that the SRO programme was needed as it was the link between crime prevention in communities and crime prevention in the schools.

Let us fast-track to the 2022 school year, which is already riddled with its challenges stemming from the high attrition rate among teachers, with some 570 teachers having resigned from May to now. There is no policy direction from the ministry as to how we will deal with the violence amongst students should we be unfortunate enough to see a repeat of these post-COVID-19 levels.

With no directives from the ministry I fear for our teachers who went to colleges to learn how to deliver quality education to the nation’s children but who invariably must do so whilst metamorphosing into police officers, soldiers, and nurses as each situation dictates. What has changed positively between 2004 and 2022 to cause our schools to no longer need the presence of these resource personnel?

To borrow the words of the late Bob Marley, “How many more will have to suffer, how many more will have to die,” before we take action? As a country we seem to enjoy being reactive rather than proactive. I say bring back the SROs to help our crumbling education system to help our future generation so that our 2030 vision will be attainable.

Yashika Edwards

yashead@yahoo.com