Andrea Downer, Gleaner Writer
REID
HEAD OF the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), Ruel Reid, says the JTA will be lobbying the Government for a broadbased policy on minimum security requirements for all schools.
He said the recent rise in security breaches, which have affected both teachers and students, has made it a priority in any future negotiations with Government.
"The issue of security must be part of any partnership talks and there are some minimum security requirements which we will insist on: perimeter fencing, security guards and surveillance cameras for all schools," Mr. Reid stated.
Last week, following the gruesome murder of the principal of Boscobel Primary School, Manning Marsh, on the school compound, Andrew Holness, Opposition spokesman on education, called for Government to implement a standard security policy for all schools.
MINISTRY CASH-STRAPPED
However, Maxine Henry-Wilson, Minister of Education, said her ministry would not be able to afford some of the measures being proposed to deal with violence in schools.
But, yesterday, Mr. Reid described Mrs. Henry-Wilson's statement as 'unfortunate'.
"The Government has consistently treated the matter of security as low-priority, and I am convinced that the resources can be found to put even minimum security measures in place, especially in the vulnerable areas," the JTA president insisted.
Mr. Manning was one of two educators who were murdered last week. On Friday, Delta Bailey, a teacher at Windward Road Primary School, was stabbed to death during a domestic dispute. She was not at school at the time of the incident.
Principal of the Windward Road Primary School, Norman Malcolm, told The Gleaner yesterday that the watchman employed to the school was not equipped to counter any security threat to the school. He said there is no perimeter fencing at the institution and he has been trying without success for a number of years to get the ministry to erect a fence, which would cost less than $2 million.
"Teachers have been assaulted and robbed in the past, as the compound is not secured," he said.
Anneta Cheryl Marsh, Mr. Marsh's widow, said she thinks the presence of a security guard at Boscobel Primary last Monday could have saved her husband's life.
"Maybe it would have made a difference, maybe a security guard could have come to my husband's aid as he struggled with his attackers and could also have helped to identify his killers," she said.
