Students at Charlie Smith High School in Kingston take a break during registration on the first day of the new school year yesterday. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Bright-eyed little boys and girls in crisp uniforms flanked by teachers bubbling with energy yesterday marked the start of the new term at schools in some of the tough inner-city communities in the Corporate Area.

In most of these schools, parents lined the corridors, beaming with pride, as the promising children started another school year.

However, the parents, like the students and teachers, know that yesterday's promise could evaporate any day as the schools try to operate normally in the shadow of the guns.

From Chetolah Park and St Alban's Primary schools in west Kingston, to Charlie Smith and Trench Town high schools in South St Andrew, the spectre of violence looms.

Over the years, violent incidents have caused the disruption of classes at these schools, but this year, students, teachers and parents are hoping that learning will be allowed to happen in peace.

"I just hope the community can stay calm so the children dem can go school and learn," one parent told The Gleaner.

She was supported by several others who chided the criminals

Smooth start

However, even the fear of violence could not dampen the mood as the new school year began.

For the most part, it was a smooth start, with school administrators reporting that all was well.

However, almost uniformly, these schools had to deal with parents who were late in registering their children.

At the Central Branch All-Age School on Slipe Pen Road, principal Perlene Dalley reported that everything was in place, even as she pointed to the scores of parents who were registering their children and paying the auxiliary fees at the eleventh hour.

It was a similar story at the nearby Jones Town Primary School and Charlie Smith Comprehensive High School.

At Trench Town High School, some students were not immediately placed in classes as they had not registered on time and had not yet sat the mandatory reading test.

Principal Prixley Austin argued that the school needed to conduct the reading test to determine how it would deal with students placed at the school based on their results in the Grade Six or Grade Nine Achievement tests.

"We tested some of the new students and they were reading at the primary level between grades one and four, so we have to be doing remedial work even before they can begin the secondary-school curriculum," Austin told The Gleaner.

He said that some students on the GSAT list had not turned up, while others were visiting the school for the first time yesterday, despite being placed there more than two months ago.

Late registration was also a challenge for the administrators at the St Alban's Primary School in Denham Town.

"Some parents did not take their children in last week as instructed, so now we are doing the registration," principal Marjorie Hudson told The Gleaner.

That did not spoil the mood for the veteran educator, who pointed with pride to a new computer lab, an upgraded library and recently installed classroom windows as some of the positives going into the new school year.

"Right now I'm going to meet with the parents. Since they are all here, I will have a parent-teacher association meeting and speak with them about the importance of education," Hudson added.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com