ST ANN, Jamaica— Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that bad behaviour by parents visiting any of the island’s schools should not be tolerated, as it sets a poor example for students.

Holness was addressing students and faculty at the Exchange All-Age School in Ocho Rios, St Ann during a visit to the institution on Friday.

“The school is not just a place to train our children, the school must be a place of good discipline and good behaviour for all who fall under the roof of the school. No parent, no visitor should come on a school compound and behave in a reprehensible way that sends a signal to the entire society that the authority of the school, the authority of the teacher, the authority of the principal and indeed the authority of law enforcement should be disrespected,” the Prime Minister emphasised.

“This society, this country, our people must speak with one voice against bad behaviour and indiscipline, especially when it is in our schools,” Holness added.

The Prime Minister was responding to a video circulating online of a parent, who was alleged to have been disruptive at a school and was taken into custody by law enforcement.

“It is very distressing to see it being circulated and to read the comments in support of bad behaviour. Something has gone wrong in our society when we can find ways to justify bad behaviour on a school compound,” he added.

Holness informed that the government has started to review the security of the island’s schools.

“I want all principals, teachers and parents to know that your Prime Minister and this government does not support or tolerate bad behaviour in our schools at all,” he underscored.

“We have started to review the security of our schools and I expect to get a report from the Commissioner [Kevin Blake] very soon and we will put in place the necessary measures to ensure that no adult comes on to the school compound and behaves in the way that I have seen being circulated and believe that they are going to get away with it,” Holness stressed.

He added that discipline and good behaviour are necessary in society, and the place for those traits to start is in the schools.

“We must defend the schools as zones of good behaviour, peace and discipline. I am very passionate about it because it is an embarrassment to us as a country to see that kind of behaviour in our schools. We must speak out against it with one determined voice so anybody else in the society that thought that it was acceptable, it is not, absolutely not,” Holness said.

The Prime Minister visited the school to tour a new classroom block which is being constructed as part of the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Primary and Secondary Infrastructure Project (PSIP), with oversight by the National Education Trust (NET).

He stated that the construction of the classroom block will improve the quality of education that the students will receive.

For her part, Regional Director at the Ministry of Education and Youth, Karlene Segree, outlined that the project provides the school with five additional classrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen and offices.

The project also includes the installation of wheelchair ramps and lifts. The institution’s driveway will also be paved in addition to other works to boost the quality of education and well-being of students and staff.

Segree noted that the project, which is at 88 per cent completion, will add value to the educational and transformational agenda being pursued by the Ministry.

-JIS