MONTEGO BAY, St James — In a move geared towards addressing the thorny issue of violence to include gang members in schools, Security Minister Dr Horace Chang has disclosed that more than 100 police officers are now being trained as resource officers to be deployed in schools across the island.

“They are in fact getting extra training in dispute resolution,” Dr Chang said.”So we are expanding that programme, working with the Ministry [of Education] to ensure we can have increased activities in the schools to reduce any kind of potential gang violence,” he added.

He was speaking to the Jamaica Observer following the recent handing over of back-to-school items to 13 students transitioning from primary to secondary education from Flanker, Glendevon and surrounding communities, which formed a part of the security ministry’s targeted violence risk reduction programme.

“There are a number of schools we have identified [that have challenges with gang members]. There are a couple in Montego Bay [but] I won’t name them. We are working with all of them to reduce any risk to the students and teachers,” said Chang, Member of Parliament for St James North West.

During the handing-over function held at the Flanker Community Centre, the students received bags, uniforms, books, shoes and other school supplies.

The security minister stressed that even as their performance in exams were the indicator, all students had case managers from the Ministry of National Security investigating their socioeconomic status and challenges.

The students were also given medical checks, including auditory and optical, and Dr Chang expressed his gratitude to the doctors and Courts Optical, as well as “the major supplier which donated the khaki uniforms”.

“We are equipping students for success through the Targeted Violence Risk Reduction Programme,” Dr Chang told the
Observer.

“We selected all the students in St James North West from Glendevon and Flanker primary schools, who did not do well enough to be placed in high schools [of their first choice],” Dr Chang said.

Meanwhile, in keeping with a wider targeted approach to assist high-performing students who are in need of additional assistance, 36 tertiary students received grants to aid their back-to-school expenses. Some $12 million was allocated from the constituency fund to assist both sets of students.