Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
The Government, in its latest bid to address violence in the nation's public schools, will by April place metal detectors in more than 100 institutions on the Safe Schools Programme.
This according to Ruel Reid, special adviser to Minister of Education Andrew Holness. This move has been supported by the National Parent Teachers Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ).
"A message must be sent to youngsters that they cannot take weapons to schools because they will be in trouble with the law," Mr. Reid told The Gleaner yesterday.
Mr. Reid, who is also the principal of Jamaica College, said there had been too many violent incidents in schools in the past year. The last recorded violent act for the school year occurred at his school in November when a 17-year-old student was stabbed to death by one of his classmates.
A mimic of society
"This is what we had called on the previous administration to do (address the level of violence in schools and put metal detectors in schools) because we cannot afford for what is happening in the society to occur in our schools," said Mr. Reid, who is a former president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA).
However, former State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Noel Monteith, said the Government could not afford to put metal detectors in schools.
At the same time, Sylvester Anderson, president of the NPTAJ, told The Gleaner yesterday: "If it would make the schools safe, we don't have a problem with that (metal detectors in schools)."
He noted that it was regrettable that schools were forced to turn into "prisons or concentration camps".
"But that is the unfortunate reality," he said.
There have been reports of students throwing weapons over school fences. Mr. Reid said while the metal detectors will be used at the gate and in random searches, a security management programme would be implemented in schools to prevent this from occurring.
"As long as people are aware that there is greater security, that will serve as a deterrent," said Mr. Reid.
