Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter 
Students march by during the St. Andrew 4-H Clubs' Annual Parish Achievement Day at the Stony Hill Primary/Junior High School in St. Andrew yesterday. The achievement day showcased 30 clubs in the parish in home economics, agriculture, leadership skills, public speaking and the integrated environment challenge. The theme for the day was 'Creating wealth through youth development'. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
THE GOVERNMENT is describing as "frightening", news that the One Order and Clansman gangs in Spanish Town have established branches in some St. Catherine schools.
Hopeton Henry, president-elect of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), in an interview with the Gleaner/Power 106 News, revealed that the association had been reliably informed that the two notorious Spanish Town-based gangs had established "incubators" in some schools in and around the Old Capital.
"In discussions with the school leadership in that area you hear about junior One-Order and junior Clansman (being established) in some of those schools", he said. When pressed on the matter, Mr. Henry insisted that this was so.
Minister of State for Education, Senator Noel Monteith, in response, said that the report was "frightening to me and I really want to condemn any such
introduction of gangs into our schools".
Accordingly, he said that his ministry would have discussions with the National Security Ministry "to see what we can do to stop it from getting any further".
The One Order gang is linked to the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party while Clansman is linked to the governing People's National Party.
Senator Monteith said the Government was looking at the possibility of installing metal detectors and closed-circuit
television cameras (CCTV) in schools in an effort to address the high incidence of violence affecting the education system.
He declined, however to say how soon the equipment would be introduced and at what cost.
NO TIMETABLE YET
"There is no timetable yet, but it is on the table, we can't have our schools becoming battle grounds," Senator Montieth said.
The junior education minister was responding to a renewed
call from Mr. Henry for the Government to introduce the measure in light of an apparent upsurge in violent incidents
in schools.
Said Henry: "The problem has got out of hand. It is now an all out assault on school authority!"
The introduction of the equipment is among the measures the JTA is proposing to tackle school violence by the opening of the next school year in September.
"First of all, the Ministry of Education is going to have to address the issue of security," the JTA president-elect said. "In some cases it may require the introduction of ... metal detectors, and in some volatile areas, cameras."
According to Senator Monteith the Government has for some time been examining the possible introduction of metal detectors and closed circuit TV.
"We ourselves have been examining that plan. This is something that we have decided to look at because we are very concerned with the violence in our schools."
Superintendent Norman Heywood, the police officer in charge of the Government's Safe Schools Programme, supports the call for metal detectors and cameras to be used in schools. He said that with the kind of weaponry being taken to school by some students, it was time to introduce the technology into the institutions.
On Wednesday, Opposition Spokesman on Education, Andrew Holness, said he was also in agreement with the proposal. He cautioned, however, that it could not be done without putting a clear policy in place.
