Holness

The Ministry of Education yesterday announced several wide ranging measures to address the growing problem of violence in schools.

These new measures, which came out of a committee which was established to make recommendations to address the problem, include, among other things, the placing of metal detectors in institutions, the fencing of all schools, the banning of cellphones during class time, and a national code of conduct for students and teachers.

"We are going to develop a national code of conduct for students and teachers. Already we have the broad framework for it. We need to do some more work and have groups participate in the development," Andrew Holness, Minister of Education, told a press conference yesterday.

The code of conduct is to include a dress code, behaviour in public places and within the school, and the protection of school property.

Mr Holness also recommended surveillance cameras and panic-alarm systems for schools in high risk areas.

He also noted that the ministry would soon be setting up time-out facilities for disruptive students. One of the institutions is to be located in Westmoreland.

As it relates to the placement of metal detectors in schools, Mr Holness said while there were constitutional issues to be ironed out, the ministry was on safe grounds to implement the search programme in schools. He noted that the metal detectors were not expensive and could be easily acquired.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com