STRUGGLING to deal with an alarming level of indiscipline by some students, administrators at Pembroke Hall High School in St Andrew are engaging them in counselling and motivation sessions.

Acting Principal Yvette Shields-Green told the Jamaica Observer that every term at the school is launched with a spiritual emphasis as education takes place in various forms.

As the students returned to school from the Easter break last week they were engaged in a special devotion before being split into small groups where past students, representatives of the religious community, and professionals counselled them under the theme, ‘Jesus Knows My Name’.

“It is always important to lift up Jesus in school. When Jesus is lifted up in school it makes a world of difference and so our plan for this particular spiritual emphasis was to actually have devotion on Monday and Wednesday — and we brought in presenters Passion and Purity, then the Inter-School Christian Fellowship (ISCF) led on Wednesday. It was powerful both days,” Shields-Green said.

“On Thursday we decided we would do motivational talks in small groups because in smaller groups the impact is greater. We brought in persons from different denominations, Bible-believing Christians to come and speak to the fact that Jesus knows their name. As individual students they are engaged in a number of activities which are not Christ-centred. Many of them are struggling, and because of that they are turning to so many things for relief,” said Shields-Green.

She told the Observer that some of the students display signs when they are facing trouble in their homes.

“Some of the students are going through troubles and trials. We may not know much about what’s happening in the homes, but when they come here you can see the crying and all of those things. When they are having those challenges, you want them to know that not only can they turn to a guidance counsellor or a teacher who can assist, but they can turn to Jesus, [they] can talk to the Lord. The Jesus knows My Name theme was birthed out of that,” Shields-Green explained.

“I believe that after these sessions we will be able to hear some good things from the students. These students get into fights like everybody else because they are not taking the instructions we give them about how to resolve conflicts. If you don’t resolve the conflicts you are going to be fighting and cussing out each other.

“Those are challenges we have in this school and sometimes that can lead to not only fighting in the school but on the roads. When they get into fights on the road they pull other people into it, even if they are not students here. We want to ensure that that kind of negativity is reduced significantly,” added Shields-Green as she pointed out that the presenters were asked to make the sessions personal and practical.

The acting principal said the plan was to have the students consider the messages that were delivered rather than always turning to social media and wasting time looking at images and saying, “I have to be like this woman or this man.”

According to Shields-Green, some students will see a particular image and believe that this is how they are to be, and that can put pressure on them.

In the meantime, Joylyn Miller, the ISCF coordinator at Pembroke Hall High, was particularly concerned that some of the students are suicidal and depressed.

She called for help from corporate Jamaica to sponsor more counselling and motivation activities at the school to help keep the students on the right track.