MAXINE HENRY-WILSON, Minister of Education, has condemned the violence currently affecting schools that she said were being transformed into volatile battlegrounds.The Minister released a statement yesterday condemning the problem. The statement came a day after the fatal stabbing of a student at the Happy Grove High School in St. Thomas, and less than two weeks after the fatal stabbing of another student at the Bridgeport High School in Portmore, St. Catherine.
"I am gravely concerned that our schools are once again being transformed into volatile battlegrounds on which petty differences are being settled through violent and fatal means," the statement said.
Mrs. Henry-Wilson also expressed her condolence to the parents who have suffered the loss of their sons. "Both students should have been sitting CXC exams next week. Unfortunately, one is in the morgue and the other in police custody," the statement said.
She said a trauma response team will be despatched to Happy Grove to provide the necessary support and counselling to the staff and students, and Donald Rhodd, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, will be visiting the institution today.
The Minister is also concerned about the violence in the society which she said was currently being reflected in schools. "Our society is a violent one and our children in many instances live and breathe violence. It is a tragic irony that many of our students who perpetrate violence are victims themselves," the statement said.
