KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Schools in Jamaica will observe “Peace Day 2024” on Tuesday amid concerns of increased violence at schools here. Last October, Education Minister Fayval Williams said that the island is facing an epidemic of violence among our children.
“And that’s just a hard, cold truth,” she told reporters. Williams said the plan would reduce school violence by 50 percent by November 2023.
“This is a mammoth task that cannot just be left to the 1,198 guidance counselors, our 139 deans of discipline, or the 41 senior teachers who act as deans of discipline, or the 257 school resources officers, which is another way of saying police officers, who we have in our schools,” she said.
A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2018 situation analysis showed that approximately 80 percent, or approximately 300,000, of Jamaica’s children experience some form of physiological or physical violence administered as discipline.
The study also found that approximately 65 percent of students are bullied at school and that 79 percent witness violence in the home or community.
“Too often we see conflict situations that could have been resolved differently if our students take a different approach,” said the Director of the Safety and Security Unit in the Ministry, Richard Troupe, noting that the Peace Day aligns with the Ministry’s ‘Jus Medz It’ campaign, which aims to end violence in schools.
The Ministry of Education and Youth is joining Peace and Love in Society (PALS) Jamaica in observing the event under the theme “Let Peace Run Things!'”.
“If we can create a more peaceful school community, if we can create a state of peace among our students, it will impact directly [in reducing] the level of violent incidents in our schools,” Troupe said.
The Ministry of Education and Youth encouraged all early childhood, primary, and secondary schools to mark Peace Day. They called on deans of discipline, guidance counselors, health and family life teachers, and school nurses to focus on peace-building activities.
Administrators at public and private schools are encouraged to incorporate the Peace Day message that the PALS secretariat has distributed in the day’s activities.
General manager of PALS Jamaica, Janilee Abrikian. in her message for Peace Day, said peace must extend beyond the home and schools and into communities and the country.
“It means working together to build a society based on justice and equality, and supporting each other and lifting each other,” she said, urging the public to show their support for the initiative by wearing blue on March 5.
and then 