Dear Editor,

The present crime situation in Jamaica can only be solved by starting with education and the good, old-time home training in which discipline and values were instilled in children. Crime is a cancer that society will have to play a big part in helping governments to solve, and we must start with the youth.

The Ministry of Education must work hand in hand with the Ministry of National Security to stop the free-for-all shootings and killings of innocent people in our country. The free will that God gave us, of which we have made a mockery, is for us to be our brothers’ keeper by loving one another. We pray every day, but remember, God gave us our lives to manage and a free will to live and take care of our families.

The society at large is taking our children and the education system for granted. We must make a special effort to positively impact the lives of children aged 10 to 17, including the dropouts who leave school with no intent. Each day children leave home for school yet only a percentage arrive to school. Those who stay away are likely to gather at different sites and engage in all types of nefarious activities, such as gambling, smoking, stealing, wiping wind screens, etc, all of this with anger in their eyes. The Ministry of Education must do more, or have they forgotten about these children who see guns every day? They know where to find guns and ammunition, only they will not give evidence for fear of their lives and that of their families.

The Government, although starting years after the private sector and people like myself, gave nearly one million or more devices to children, but let us not leave it there. Since the pandemic, to date, at least half of the units needs servicing or full repair. Minister, I am urging you to get the youth off the streets and engage them in a training programme, facilitated at our technical schools and centres, to learn to fix these devices. The country cannot afford to purchase another million units next year. By the end of this initiative, the youth who participated would have developed into budding entrepreneurs. With these few points, the Ministry of Education can help to solve crime and can do much more.

Lee Clarke

Councillor, Whitehall Division

Former Mayor of Kingston