A top education official for central Jamaica has expressed shock over the spate of violent attacks at the nation’s schools.

“This is serious. What is happening in the country?” was the distressed reaction from Director of Regional Education Services Region Five in the Ministry of Education, Susan Nelson-Smith, when she was informed of a murder outside Rousseau Primary in Kingston Friday morning, following an identical scene at Holmwood Technical, in her region, hours earlier.

“Schools should be a safe haven for children. And so the fact that this is now seeping into our schools, it is really regrettable.” she lamented.

When she spoke to Observer Online around 10 am, Nelson-Smith, who oversees St Elizabeth and Manchester, was preparing to head to Holmwood where a bus driver was shot and killed around 8:10 am. The driver was reportedly ambushed by a gunman while he loaded a coaster bus to transport the school’s footballers.

The director says the ministry immediately deployed the relevant personnel upon being alerted of the incident.

“We have dispatched our regional safety and security officer to the school. Students were organized and we spoke directly with the vice principal because [school was dismissed],” Nelson-Smith said, adding “We’re just in a mode of ensuring that everyone is safe. Because for those who might have witnessed it, you can expect that it is going to be very traumatic.”

Guidance counsellors are working alongside the dispatched officers to help students and staff process the incident.

Rousseau Primary was also shuttered around 10 am Friday following the shooting death of a man believed to be a parent just outside the school gate.

Commenting on both incidents, Nelson Smith said, “It is just a replication of what is happening [in our society] it is sad that it has reached our schools because you’re talking about our students and the fact that they are witnessing this kind of thing.”

In both cases, at least a few students were witnesses to the murders.

It was the second incident of this nature at Rousseau Primary since the start of the school year. A parent was shot dead on the school compound in October.