The under-reporting of violent incidents by school administrators throughout Jamaica has been linked to the entrenchment of gangs in learning institutions.

This is compounded by recent research that suggests that exposure of children as young as six to eight years old to violence was grooming them to be established gang members in their teen years.

Gang operations

Speaking at a conference titled 'Disrupting Gangs in Schools' Tuesday, Clyde Talbot, deputy superintendent of police of the St Andrew South Division, disclosed that most of the 150 gangs in operation islandwide had youth arms.

Talbot implored school officials to refrain from under-reporting incidents which fester over time and grow out of control.

"What I see, and it is quite sad, a lot of the principals see the formation of gangs in the school system and believe they have failed and so they attempt to cover it up," Talbot explained.

His assertions were corroborated by Michael Forrester, education officer from the Ministry of Education, who pushed for schools to take greater responsibility.

"Traditional high schools cannot afford for things in schools to become newsworthy and so in an attempt to protect the name and identity of the institution, they cover up incidents. This needs to stop!" he declared.

Forrester's recommendation falls in line with previous statements by Education Minister Andrew Holness, who has urged school administrators to treat all acts of violence as criminal matters and report them to the police.

Violent behaviour

In another alarming revelation at the conference, social anthropologist Dr Herbert Gayle said a study titled 'Young Birds That Know Storm', posited that the mushrooming of teen gangs was linked to an inclination towards violent behaviour in basic school-age children.

The study, which was conducted in 11 'full-scale' garrisons in the Kingston Metropolitan Region, found that a culture of fear and hate - sometimes born out of poli-tical rivalry - had established fertile breeding grounds for gang influence.

Fifteen of the 53 children studied had been involved in violent acts, and four had participated in gang activities.

The research was done for the Caribbean Child Support Initiative.

The anti-gang conference brought together stakeholders to formulate a set of advisories to identify and prevent gang behaviour in places of learning.

Bertrand Laurent, director of the United States Agency for International Development Community Empowerment and Transformation Project, said the conference was a timely collaboration of government agencies, which included the Jamaica Constabulary Force and Social Development Commission.

John McLean, assistant commissioner of police in charge of the Community Safety and Security Branch, stressed that greater intervention was needed to create a safe and sustainable learning environment.

Gang-recruitment centres

He said that schools were gang-recruitment centres for the vulnerable, particularly young boys, affected by low self-esteem and dysfunctional home environments.

Forrester said the Ministry of Education would later this year be unveiling two initiatives to monitor the operation of gang-related activities in schools and provide support to students and teachers.

He said a critical management plan would be placed in the hands of administrators to report and file all trauma cases, not only those related to violence. An Alternative Student Support Programme will also be devised to rehabili-tate students who show maladap-tive behaviour, as opposed to suspending or expelling them.