Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

A national policy to address social and behavioural problems in schools is to be ready by September, according to Hopeton Henry, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA).

"A nine-page draft document was presented to the Ministry of Education and Youth at the monthly meeting yesterday (Tuesday) and all stakeholders will receive the document and make suggestions, Mr. Henry told The Gleaner yesterday.

Mr. Henry said the JTA decided to come up with the policy, following an incident at Vere Technical High School last November, where five male students were shot and injured by a security guard on duty at the institution.

At that time, Mr. Henry said his organisation realised the Government did not have a policy to deal with firearms in schools and, therefore, came up with a wider framework to address social issues that have been plaguing the education system.

The draft document to address violence and other social problems in schools comes on the heels of a violent clash between a security guard and two students at the Marcus Garvey Technical High School, St. Ann, on Tuesday.

The incident has left the security guard and a student nursing injuries. It is reported that a student on the morning shift wanted to enter the school compound while the afternoon shift was in progress.

However, a private security guard employed to the school denied him entry. An argument developed and the student and one of his colleagues left and returned with a machete and chopped the security guard in the head. The guard responded by hitting the two students several times with a baton.

Suspension of classes

The incident forced the immediate suspension of classes at the school as most students and teachers were traumatised.

Students on both shifts turned up for school yesterday and received counselling from officials from the Ministry of Education and Youth.

Marcus Garvey Technical is on the Safe Schools Programme, where police personnel, called School Resource Officers (SROs), are assigned to institutions. But an official at the school said the SROs are rarely there.

Meanwhile, Mr. Henry yesterday called for an expansion of the Safe Schools Programme, noting that there is a noticeable improvement in students' behaviour when the SROs are assigned to institutions.

"But part of the problem is that they (SROs) are normally transferred or called for court duties," he told The Gleaner.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com

The draft policy is in fact the brainchild of the Ministry of Education and Youth and not the JTA as suggested. We regret any misunderstanding.