Every school day, typically over 400,000 students pass through Jamaica’s 1,010 public primary and secondary school gates to seek an education that would hopefully lead to a better quality of life in adulthood.

But anecdotal evidence suggests that a great many of those students fall prey to gangs which treat schools as fertile grounds for recruitment, with varying levels of success.

In the first quarter of 2025, police identified 85 active gangs across Jamaica, showing there is no shortage of opportunities to lure new recruits.

Moreover, Education Ministry 2023 surveys showed that a troubling 20 per cent of over 9,760 students from 331 institutions indicated that they knew another student at their school who was a member of a gang.

“Although this finding does not establish the actual prevalence of gang membership, it raises concerns about students’ reported awareness of gang involvement within the school communities,” says the ministry’s National Coordinator for Safety and Security in Schools Mr Richard Troupe.

He was speaking at Sunday’s launch of the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth, and Information Anti-Gang In Schools Week 2026, which the Jamaica Observer enthusiastically supports, for obvious reasons.

The week, which is being observed under the theme, ‘Step Out of Gang, Step Into Greatness’, beckons Jamaicans to unite to protect our students from gang recruitment and guide them towards positive pathways, according to the State-run Jamaica Information Service.

It is not any new discovery that, as Mr Troupe says, for many children in Jamaica, the influence of gangs is encountered long before they fully understand what gang membership means, as young people may associate gang involvement with protection, financial security, respect, or a sense of belonging.

Recruitment gets considerably easier when children are exposed to violence, intimidation, lack of affection and affirmation, or limited opportunities for positive engagement, often starting in the home, which is something all too prevalent in our country.

It is worrying to hear that, despite the prevalence of gangs or gang members in school, the ministry’s survey revealed that nearly one in four students reported that they did not know an adult at school whom they could approach when they needed help.

This, of course, reinforces the importance of an all-of-community approach including teachers, guidance counsellors, deans of discipline, school administrators and the school board, parents, the police, local community leaders, churches, and political representatives who must remain attentive to the concerns of students, as well as encouraging and supporting them.

Mr Troupe underscored the critical importance of parents and caregivers, who are uniquely positioned to observe changes in friendships, unexplained possessions, increasing secrecy, or sudden behavioural changes in students that may warrant closer attention.

We hope that Anti-Gang Week has been getting the robust support of school communities for activities that have included anti-gang lessons, educational workshops, restorative practice sessions, motivational engagements, a town hall meeting at Spot Valley High School in St James, and a first-ever anti-gang poster competition.

We ignore to our peril activities meant to steer our young people towards a productive life.