CHRISTIANA, Manchester — More than 20 students from two schools across this parish were recently trained and certified as peace ambassadors, after civic and political leaders say they are encouraged by the children’s passion to steer their peers away from violence.

The students, who attend Christiana Moravian Primary and Infant, and Christiana High School, were selected to participate in a pilot project — the Manchester School Peace Ambassador Initiative organised by Manchester Custos Garfield Green.

He said the initiative falls under the Manchester Beliefs, Values and Attitudes programme.

“I have the responsibility to promote law and order and civic pride, among other things, but the decay of our moral fabric in the society has led to the formation of the Manchester Beliefs, Attitudes and Values initiative to help create a gentler society,” he said at the launch of the peace ambassador initiative in Christiana last Friday.

“It is our belief that [if] we can save our young people then there is hope for our country [in] years to come,” added Green.

He explained that the initiative conceptualised by Reverend Sacha Lambert “is an organ of excellence in promoting civic responsibility and service”.

“It was her idea. She brought it to me [and] I accepted it. We have also developed a constitution that will guide the programme.

“The Manchester School Peace Ambassador programme… is a momentous step towards building a culture of peace, accord, and civic pride in our schools and communities,” said Green.

“Jamaica is facing challenges including conflicts, violence, public disorder, crime and intolerance — and Manchester is no exception. It is therefore urgent that we start promoting peace, tolerance, and respect from a young age — that is why we are targeting the students in schools,” added Green.

He said the student peace ambassadors were trained in dispute resolution practices over two days by the Dispute Resolution Foundation.

“So the students are equipped to help to defuse tension and build peace among their peers. Over time the programme will enable our students to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to become effective peace ambassadors. They will learn about conflict resolution, empathy, communication and leadership, among other things,” said Green.

He added that the programme will help students to develop a “sense of patriotism and social responsibility”.

“They will understand that they have the power to make a positive impact in the society and to become productive leaders, impacting the lives of others.”

Minister of Education Fayval Williams and Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck lauded the students, Reverend Lambert, and Green for the initiative.

Williams said the programme will influence dispute resolution in schools.

“This programme is a significant step in promoting peace among students in our schools, and the identification of school peace ambassadors [means they will] serve as sentinels in keeping the peace among their peers and to be trained in restorative practices. All of this should go a far way to reducing much of the misunderstandings and disputes in our schools,” she said.

“This is a programme that I firmly believe that we can use to see how we can incorporate it so that it will become a programme in other schools across Jamaica,” she added.

Further, the education minister said the pilot programme will train and equip the students to become “junior” justices of the peace.

“We believe that by investing in you [children] we are investing in the future of Jamaica,” she said.

Justice Minister Chuck shared similar sentiments.

“I think it is a wonderful project that we can get all our students to be peace ambassadors and really to be peacemakers. In truth, when we see the challenges in our schools nowadays the need for peace is really important… It must not only be a launch, it must be the beginning of a process across every school here in Manchester,” he said.

“Here you have a situation where you can see peacemakers, where you can visualise every student being a peace ambassador, where peace can be the pursuit in the interaction within the schools — and it will get rid of all the fighting [and] quarrels so that students can learn,” added Chuck.

The justice minister said domestic violence between adults in homes is affecting children’s behaviour.

“They are teaching you the wrong lesson. Far too many children learn what they see, and they repeat what they see. They go into the community and [then] come to school believing this is how people must behave,” he said.

“More importantly, those families across Jamaica must recognise that when they quarrel and fight with one another they send the wrong signal to their children who are watching them — and the children repeat exactly what they see at home… That is the major problem in our schools — children are simply practising what they see at home,” he said.

He implored the newly minted peace ambassadors to be examples to not only their peers but also adults.

“Children, we have to depend on you to teach the adults. Tell them that the Government, your teacher, your pastor say there must be peace,” said Chuck.