The Editor, Sir:

Our society needs to arrive at some consensus with regards to the purpose of our education system. There is an ongoing trend where the society continues to look to schools to fix all its ills. This must now stop!

Recent articles published in this forum have attacked the schools' 'inability' to produce functionally literate students. Our education system has been mandated to provide a wide range of accommodation to our students over the years. Now educators are called upon to provide condoms for our students! What is next? Our country is plagued with a citizenry which craves both continuity and change! At what point do we fin means of addressing our problems and allow teachers to get on with the job of teaching?

No proper values

It is obvious that some of our 'parents' are not doing much in instilling proper values and morals in our young ones, hence the quandary we now face. I strongly believe that the time is right for our political leaders to start imposing more stringent measures on who should be having children, as well as the number of children some people should be having! Too many of our parents have proven 'unfit' over the years, while the results of their 'ineffective' parenting styles continue to burden society, especially taxpayers ... after all, someone will be paying for those condoms!

Educators must now be proactive and put some measures in place to protect the environment in which they must work: the schools. They must call on the Ministry of Education to secure the schools, not only putting cameras in place, but also by ensuring that some penalties are in place for these 'students' who believe that school is not for education!

I also believe that the Government needs to put more funding into AIDS awareness programmes. There are hundreds of people in Jamaica suffering from AIDS. If possible, plan community forums and get AIDS victims involved to reach the 'minds' of these 'students', otherwise taxpayers will continue to feel the brunt of the results of students gone wild.

My forefathers are probably turning in their graves. Where are the basic values, principles and morals on which beautiful Jamaica was built? People, please permit teachers to carry out the mandate with which they are charged - to educate our young without the additional burden of promoting sex in schools.

I am, etc.,

COREEN HEREMURU

denco05@yahoo.com