The shocking classroom murder of a Ferncourt High School student earlier this week has renewed calls for urgent measures to make schools safer for our children. Additionally, the ensuing national debate appears to have placed parents in the spotlight with calls for them to take responsibility for instilling good behaviour and discipline in their children or for seeking help for troubled children.

The carefully planned stabbing by a boy who allegedly disguised his identity to gain access to the school had the whiff of a reprisal about it. The police themselves hinted at a simmering feud which might have had its denouement in Tuesday's murder. We have become used to hearing the police describe killings as reprisals, and somehow there is a feeling that this will lessen the fear felt by law-abiding citizens. Each time a child is killed in school, it strikes fear in the hearts of parents and other students alike.

But let us not forget that a child's value system is strengthened by the actions of the adults in their lives. Rules and laws define boundaries. There are consequences when one oversteps these boundaries. Unfortunately, there are just too many people in Jamaica who are willing to cross these boundaries with impunity.

As the levels of violence and acts of incivility grow in the society, so have the incidents in schools all across the island. We must see this spate of school violence as a by-product of a society gone badly off course.

squabbling and partisan ugliness

Boorish behaviour exhibited by motorists and users of the road, squabbling and partisan ugliness being put on display in Parliament and politicians who take on a bellicose tone when on the campaign trail, parents who attack teachers and attempt to defy school rules by demonstrating are all setting poor examples. The children are watching.

Jamaica is not the only society gripped by violence in schools. In the United Kingdom, truancy was identified as an urgent problem linked to crime and underachievement. One of the measures adopted to tackle the problem was to strengthen parental responsibility laws. The objective was not to punish parents but to convince them that they needed to do more to monitor and supervise their children. There were 10,000 prosecutions of parents in England in 2007 for their children's truancy. Parents have even been jailed for their children's delinquency.

Could new, stringent laws against delinquent parents work in Jamaica? Are the authorities bold enough to implement laws that would hold parents responsible for their children's acts of violence?

It is widely acknowledged that the collapse of the family and the burgeoning of single-parent households have resulted in many children not getting the necessary supervision or discipline. Would it help to have structured activities in communities for these children? Should we be looking to organisations like the Cadets, Boys' Brigade, Girl Guides, Brownies and Four-H Clubs? Could the church be doing more to get young people more involved in wholesome activities?

We must move now to show evidence of the country's priorities and values by finding solutions to this urgent problem. The search for solutions must involve parliamentarians, parents, students, teachers, security forces and civil society.

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