Dennie Quill, Contributor
IT IS tempting to look at the horrible violent events taking place at schools all over the world and conclude that we are not too bad here in Jamaica. My advice would be to think again.
Elements of this dangerous social equation are building up and the ripples could form a towering wave before long. Imagine thieves pouncing on a basic school, as happened in Eltham recently, scaring the daylights out of teachers and traumatising the little ones. Reports of attacks, theft, vandalism and murder in our schools are on the increase, all over the country and in all categories of schools. School should be a place of learning and growth.
For sure, the Ministry of Education is distressed, even more so is the Jamaica Teachers' Association and parents and children. The overburdened police (and I say that deliberately for I have a feeling that the army could be doing much more to make Jamaica a safer place) cannot be expected to patrol all the schools. It is an expensive undertaking to install security cameras and metal detectors in schools and hire security personnel. Quite apart from the fact that these help to transform schools into something akin to a maximum security prison. Children should be allowed to get their education in a safe and secure environment, and there is every indication that this is becoming more of a challenge.
Let's take the Eltham case - assuming that the thugs are from Eltham or its environs, how should the community deal with the situation? Anguished parents and teachers could sit and wring their hands in frustration. They could pay to have a watchman at the premises if one is not already there. They could put on a fund-raiser to get money to install security systems that would prove difficult for thieves to breach. They could play detective by trying to find the thieves and hand them over to the police.
I have given all these suggestions to reinforce the point I have made often enough - many of these problems require community solutions. These criminal acts force us to confront a fundamental question about how we treat
criminals among us.
INNOCENT VICTIMS
When we shelter criminals in our homes and communities it is inevitable that innocent persons will one day become victims. The truth is, no matter what master plan is initiated by the Ministry of Education or the police, it will not work unless the community decides to raise the pressure on these cowards with guns and knives. The ritual slaughtering of our children and adults will not cease until we decide that enough is enough.
I feel that the best defence for our schools is to build stronger bonds with their communities. I have not seen a study done on this but I suspect that where community relationships are strongest, institutions like the Church and school enjoy higher levels of security. For the future I believe there have to be initiatives to strengthen this relationship, and they ought to include reaching out to the sick and infirm. It may be that the brighter children will consider projects to teach community illiterates the basics of reading and writing, or having a school garden which feeds the needy in the community.
Caring school teachers, imaginative administrators, and even metal detectors, will not always protect our schools. It all sounds very cheesy maybe, but it seems to me that unless we create safe and truly embracing school environments where the school is at the centrepiece of community activities things will only get worse. We must be prepared to pay for new initiatives with our own resources or be prepared to pray for more victims.
Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist who may be reached at denniequill@hotmail.com.
