We view with alarm reports in the press that the Ministry of Education proposes to train 300 teachers and principals as special constables and give them police powers in our schools.

According to acting Assistant Commandant of the Island Special Constabulary Force, Desmond Brooks, the training is to begin this summer with the intention that those trained would be in place for the new school year this September.

Commandant Brooks seeks to assure the public that these hybrid teacher-police will not be arresting students but will simply "handle the little nuances [sic!] children get up to and be able to protect the school".

We are not reassured. However you spin it, police are police and the powers of special constables to arrest are clearly spelled out in the law as well as used in everyday practice in Jamaica. The police force is mandated to maintain law and order, using their powers to search and arrest when they deem appropriate.

What this new step means, therefore, is that a new front is being opened by the Government for police operations to be an everyday experience within the daily lives of our students as an integral part of their educational development.

All those in programmes such as Change From Within, PALS and the Peace Management Initiative which have laboured long and hard to create a more humane environment in our schools will feel deeply frustrated, even betrayed, by this move to educational militarisation.

Some may retort that there is a serious problem of violence in schools which requires a robust response. There can be no denying that the problem of adult violence in Jamaican society has spilled over into our schools and is having very serious consequences.

However, any attempt to convert our schools into boot camps and to simply throw force at what is a social problem will be counterproductive. What about our nurses- why not train them to police hospitals? Cowing our young people into submission and a creeping militarisation of civil society will not work. It is going to alienate the vast majority of law-abiding youth and have a destructive impact on the educational process. It has hugely negative human rights implications.

We find it extremely odd that the announcement of such a momentous programme is coming from a senior police officer and not from the Ministry of Education. But the minister of education cannot evade responsibility for this initiative. He has to come clean and explain fully to the Jamaican people exactly what this new policy is about.

A mentality of authoritarianism seems to be enveloping the minister with his new-found role as the moral policeman of school literature. This latest policy takes us further down that authoritarian road, but this time with far more dire consequences.

The adoption of such a serious step requires full public discussion and consultation with the Jamaica Teachers' Association, the Opposition as well as many in the voluntary sector who have been working in this field with little or no government support for many years. Simply throwing more police at our young people is an act of authoritarian desperation which will make our situation worse, not better.

There is still time for the minister to step back from the brink and reconsider. Over to you, Mr Minister.