The Editor, Sir:

Teaching has become a high-risk job. Teachers have become the endangered species. The premium that once was placed on education and the educator is now in the dim and distant past. School administrators are becoming less and less capable of dealing with deviant behaviour that has infiltrated the walls of these schools. Gone are the days when teachers feel free to reprimand a child without any fear of a violent backlash from relatives or community associations.

It is rather difficult to separate the school from the society since the former is a microcosm of the latter. The malfeasance of society has infiltrated the walls of our schools, making them unhealthy for robust learning and teaching to take place. The schoolroom is no longer a safe haven for teachers and students. In other words, they have become living hell.

Security is a big concern for most school principals, as some of our schools have become battlefields for criminal elements, not only for those outside but rather the ones who are in training at the school. Teachers have to contend on a daily basis with gun-toting and knife-wielding students and parents who belch out threats to us the least opportunity they get. Their attitude towards us is killing the innovative spirit that some of our educators once displayed.

It can be argued that the schools are churning out scores of gunmen annually. If this is so, then it means that the education system would have failed our youths and the nation would be in serious trouble. Who will act now on our behalf? Only when we begin to engage meaningfully all stakeholders such as the parents, educators and the Ministry of Education as well as other interest groups that the situation will be brought under control. The stakeholders need to speak simultaneously and with unity of purpose. The parents have let down their guards too early. The children, especially our boys, are being grown up without fathers; our mothers are becoming younger as the years go by and the instability in the institution of the family is having an adverse effect on our schools and society.

It's time for the gov't to step in

Dancehall music is another of the destructive element that is helping to shape the values and attitudes of young people in our society. The filthy contents of some of our musical lyrics are distressing to the mind and soul. I believe very strongly that the government needs to take a stand and declare war on these barefaced singers. Let us start a crusade to 'save our boys', especially those who are wreaking havoc and creating mayhem in our society. Jamaica is experiencing the worst of times as the young 'shottas' continue to spill their venom on us. The time has come when the Government must step out and step on it like a snake in the grass.

The Ministry of Education should ensure that each school has security personnel in place, a guidance counsellor and a reading specialist.

These will help to ease the uncertainty that the future holds for the education system. Let us now hear something definitive from our Minister of education who I know means this country well.

I am, etc.,

HARVEY BROWN

Harveybrown2007@yahoo.com