WESTERN BUREAU:
AT LEAST three schools in western Jamaica have put in place tougher rules governing their acceptance of students being transferred from other institutions.
"In the past, we used to take in all and sundry. Now we pay serious attention to the students that we accept," said Basil Chambers, principal of Petersfield Comprehensive High School, Westmore-land.
"Students who were expelled from other schools because of indiscipline, will not be accepted here," he said.
Mr. Chambers who cited overcrowding as a major cause of indiscipline at the school, said teachers would have to adopt a new approach to deal with the problem. Many were not trained to deal with indiscipline at its present level, he said. "The whole business of indiscipline is a 21st century phenomenon. The methodology used in the '70s will not work with today's 21st century children."
He said traditional methods would have to be combined with a psychological approach by teachers and parents, adding that teachers' colleges would also have to rethink their methods.
Stricter rules
St. James High School (formerly Montego Bay Comprehensive), will also be enforcing stricter rules to deal with student indiscipline.
"We will say to parents, 'Look, if your child is involved in some sort of indiscipline this is what will happen,'" said a teacher who requested anonymity.
A problem is that parents don't have the time to visit the school and see how their children are doing, she said.
"Parents need to understand that the school is theirs. They need to take the time out and find out what is happening. When the children see that their parents are committed, they too will want to get involved."
Austin Daley, principal of Savanna-la-Mar Comprehensive High School, says his school has had its share of indiscipline.
"We have charted out a course of action with security personnel and the police to deal with the problem," he said. "We have used this method in the past and we have seen results."
Mr. Daley stressed that parents and the community needed to play their part in dealing with the issue.
The problem of violence and indiscipline in schools have made headlines recently with stories such as the suspension of 500 students at Seaforth High School, St. Thomas, earlier this year.
