EDUCATION and Youth Minister Fayval Williams has described the upsurge in violence taking place in schools as “madness”, highlighting 55 reports of critical incidents over a one-year period between January 2022 and January 2023.

“Given that there are 190 school days in the school year, 55 critical incidents at our schools equate to a critical incident happening somewhere in the education sector every three-and-a-half school days. This is madness,” Williams said during her contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

However, there is speculation that the number is extremely conservative, as knowledgeable sources in the sector point to at least one St Andrew school that they know of where students get into fights almost daily.

In recent weeks, there have been numerous violent confrontations between students, some of which have been captured on video and circulated on social media.

In one incident, which happened on April 18, a 15-year-old student at Irwin High School in St James died after being stabbed in the chest by a schoolmate outside of the school gate just after classes were dismissed for the day.

Another incident, which escalated around this time, involved physical altercations among students from several Corporate Area high schools which left several injured and one school was forced to close for two days.

On April 25, two students of the Grange Hill High School in Westmoreland were shot, one fatally, in a gun attack shortly after they left the annual Sports Day at the school.

On Wednesday, Williams said the matter of school violence is an immediate threat which “has overshadowed, in a most negative way, all the efforts of our principals, our teachers, our parents, the students themselves, and the Ministry of Education and Youth”.

She said that in the reports that were submitted through the regional offices to the Safety and Security in Schools Unit at the central Ministry, “it is instructive to note that the 55 critical incidents occurred at 50 different schools — 15 primary and 35 high schools.

“Five of the schools had two critical incidents each and these ranged from gang violence to physical assault, to robbery, to break-ins at the school, to school bus accidents, to alleged sexual grooming, to drowning, to vandalism, to stabbing, to attempted abduction, to brawls to physical altercations, to a fire, and alleged sexual assault”, she said.

She noted that while 50 schools represent approximately five per cent of the total number of primary and secondary schools in the education sector, these incidents of violence and assaults on school property “are way too frequent for a small society such as Jamaica’s where most of us know each other”.

“I want to say to Jamaicans that if you believe it is the sole responsibility of the principal, the teachers, and the Ministry of Education to solve school violence, I humbly ask you to think again. Yes the education sector has a big role to play, but we have to look at the treatment that our children receive at some homes and in their communities that will determine their state of mind when they arrive at school,” she said.

Williams argued that in some communities very loud music and selectors screaming at the top of their voices until the wee hours of the morning during a school night determine if children arrive at school fully rested or simply exhausted from lack of sleep.

“It is the lewd lyrics being broadcast in some of the public passenger vehicles that our students have to travel in to get to school that will determine if they arrive at school in a calm spirit or sexually charged. Add to this the access to weapons and drugs and the fact that many of our children are witnessing violent acts in their homes and within their communities,” she said.

She stressed that it does not take much to spark school violence, reiterating that the responsibility lies with all Jamaicans who all have a part to play in eradicating incidents of school violence. She said students should know that on or off school premises, school violence is unacceptable.

“And in those videos [circulating on social media] we’re not seeing adults intervening. Instead we see students encouraging, egging on the fight while they video. For the fights that happen on the school premises, I know that the principals, deans of discipline, senior teachers, and other adults rush to intervene, which reduces the severity of the fight. They also follow up with their disciplinary processes,” she said.

Williams said the ministry is striving to promote a culture of safety, respect, and support and an environment in which all students can thrive. She said this is why the ministry has employed an approach that is multi-pronged and starts with a safety and security policy that is designed to prevent violence.

‘It [the policy] clearly spells out how to implement physical security measures such as searches of students’ school bags; organising training programmes for school personnel to recognise warning signs and intervene effectively; counselling at-risk individuals; developing crisis and emergency plans; assigning roles for students, parents, and the community; and addressing and resolving conflicts in a constructive manner,” she said.

She noted that currently school resource officers or police officers are assigned to a group of schools, and though no longer physically operating from educational institutions, continue to provide valuable support to schools.

“This support includes but is not limited to the following. They coordinate searches upon request; they visit schools regularly; they have motorised patrols in the general school environs before and after school hours; there are regular patrols in the transport and town centres to prevent students loitering during school hours; they do safety audits and reports upon request,” she said.

In addition, she said they investigate critical incidents, provide training sessions for staff and students, do motivational talks, gang prevention intervention, host summer camps, and have mentorship programmes.