THE SUNDAY Gleaner of August 22 published a series of 'Eye on Education' stories on the new school year, previewing various aspects including infrastructure preparation, examination performance, and funding.
One article aptly titled "Armed to teach" was a revealing recital of the violence that has dogged some schools. This account by a teacher who has spent eight years in the classroom throws some light on last week's surprise announcement that police will be deployed in some 60 schools.
As this teacher tells it, police have had occasion to stage sudden invasions into classrooms to strip-search students and their bags for weapons. Alarming arrays of knives and cutting tools have been found occasionally. And an increasing number of institutions have had to engage uniformed security guards to minimise the occurrence of violent incidents.
It is against that kind of background that the planned deployment of police personnel is apparently now proposed but there has been no clear indication of how the law officers will be deployed. We would have thought that the Ministry of Education would have advised the public, the teachers through the JTA, and the parents the safety of whose children must be a primary consideration.
Judging from the account we have cited, there is precedent for
policemen invading classrooms in instances of violent behaviour or on suspicion of illegal weapons concealed in school bags. Presumably they can't be expected to stand guard inside a classroom, thereby being a distraction to both teachers and students and hindering classroom teaching. And the matter of how well armed they will be raises questions of safety if weapons have to be brought into play.
It may well be that police presence in schools has become necessary particularly in volatile areas where discipline in general has deteriorated in some communities. Some of the horror stories that surface periodically suggest that student behaviour sometimes threatens teachers, often with the connivance of parents and/or guardians.
If such circumstances have prompted this latest attempt to deal with violence in schools there should have been prior public disclosure by the Ministry of Education; along with some indication of how the police deployment will be managed without disrupting the learning process.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
