标签： Jamaica

As Jamaica grapples with a growing crisis of weapons possession and widespread student indiscipline across the nation’s public schools, the top leader of the country’s teachers’ union has issued a scathing rebuke of government inaction, accusing policymakers of actively undermining school administrators’ efforts to enforce order and hold violating students accountable.

In an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer published Sunday, Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver outlined the deep scope of the problem, revealing that some campuses are now struggling to control gang activity infiltrating their halls.

“The Ministry of Education already collects detailed data on every major infraction reported across our schools, so they are fully aware of the range and volume of weapons seized from students every year,” Malabver told the outlet. “Students are bringing an alarming variety of weapons onto campus. I don’t know what purpose this data is serving if no substantive action follows, but it is past time for meaningful intervention.”

Malabver emphasized that the number of weapons recovered is significant, and called for coordinated action from school administrators, governing boards, and the education ministry to expel gang presence from campuses entirely. “Schools must be made a completely hostile environment for gangs,” he said.

The JTA president confirmed that common edged weapons including knives, ice picks, and scissors are regularly carried by students to school, noting that while firearm seizures are not an everyday occurrence, they have happened repeatedly. “We have had students taken into law enforcement custody for carrying loaded firearms on campus,” he said. “This is not a new problem, but it points to a much wider crisis of systemic student indiscipline that has played out in deadly ways.”

The most recent high-profile fatal incident took place on April 20, when 13-year-old Seaforth High School student Kland Doyle was stabbed to death by a fellow student in St Thomas. The fatal attack grew out of an on-campus dispute that spilled off school grounds, unfolding between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. near the Morant Bay Transport Centre, close to a Teen Hub facility and an internet café frequently used by students. St Thomas Police Division Commanding Officer Rohan Ritchie confirmed three students have been taken into custody in connection with Doyle’s killing.

Just one week before that fatal stabbing, law enforcement officers arrested four Papine High School students in Gordon Town, St Andrew, after breaking up a public brawl. The students were found in possession of multiple offensive weapons including knives, ice picks, and machetes. While no assault charges were filed because no formal victim reports were submitted, all four teens were formally charged with illegal weapons possession.

The Jamaica Observer has requested official aggregated statistics from police on the total number and types of weapons seized from students across the island since last week. While the department promised to release the data this week, it has not yet been made public. Police have however repeatedly shared photos of seized student weapons on their public social media channels in recent months, highlighting the scope of the issue.

In one of the most alarming revelations from the interview, Malabver stated that reports collected by the JTA point to a sharp rise in unprovoked violent attacks against teaching staff by students. “We have seen a significant jump in these unprovoked attacks, alongside persistent bullying across campuses,” he explained. “In one recent case in St Catherine, a student attacked a teacher from behind, causing severe injuries that forced the educator to miss months of classes while recovering. In far too many of these cases, teachers end up paying for their own medical costs out of pocket.”

Malabver argued that the root of the current indiscipline crisis stems from multiple systemic failures, starting with lack of parental accountability, which the government has failed to address. “We are only treating the symptoms of the problem right now, not getting to the root cause. For me, the core issue is poor parenting,” he said. “There is currently no legislation on the books that holds parents legally responsible for the harmful behavior their children engage in while at school. Lawmakers need to take this gap seriously and pass new legislation to create that accountability.”

Beyond parental accountability, Malabver pointed to gaps in school governance that let offending students avoid consequences, often when school boards fail to take timely disciplinary action. He went a step further, arguing that the Ministry of Education has inadvertently become complicit in undermining school-wide discipline policies.

“Whenever school leaders enforce existing dress and grooming codes, ministry officials and even elected politicians often side with violating students instead of backing administrators,” he said. “We keep hearing that new policies are in development, stuck in one consultation phase or another, but where is the urgent, concrete policy to address the indiscipline crisis tearing at our schools? We need a firm, uncompromising approach to discipline, and right now the Ministry is failing to deliver that. They may deny this, but the facts speak for themselves.”

The issue of weapons in Jamaican schools is not new: just a few years ago, St Catherine North Police, backed by Jamaica Defence Force personnel, carried out a coordinated search of a local high school and seized a large cache of weapons and contraband from students, images of which were widely shared on official police social media at the time.

MANCHESTER, JAMAICA – Stakeholders at New Forest High School have expanded the scope of impact from the institution’s annual 5K run/walk, with proceeds now set to support three key priorities: campus infrastructure expansion, athletic program development, and a new staff wellness initiative amid rising rates of illness among faculty. Board Chair Trisha Williams-Singh announced the updated fundraising goals during Sunday’s second staging of the popular community event, marking a decade since the school first opened its doors.

As the 10-year-old institution continues to grow to meet student demand, the bulk of this year’s race proceeds will go toward constructing a long-awaited on-campus auditorium and upgrading the school’s existing sports programs. In a new addition to the event’s mission, a portion of funds will also be allocated to launch the New Forest High Staff Welfare Fund, a response to a sharp recent increase in reported illness among teaching and administrative staff.

Williams-Singh emphasized that the dual focus of the event aligns with the school’s core values of community care. “We are not just raising money – we are modeling healthy lifestyles for our students and our community, while also stepping up to support our own team when they need help,” she explained. “When members of our school family face health challenges, we want to be able to respond to their needs immediately, rather than leaving them waiting for support.”

The event has seen explosive growth in participation in just its second year, with registration numbers tripling from the 2023 staging to hit roughly 500 registered attendees this year. Williams-Singh noted that the outpouring of support extended beyond students and parents, with official delegations from local government agencies including the National Irrigation Commission and Agro-Invest joining the race. The high participation comes as no surprise, she added, given the school’s location within a regional agro-park that ties the institution closely to local agricultural industry stakeholders.

Beyond the 5K fundraiser, the school is pushing to expand its academic offerings in agricultural science, a core focus of the 10-year-old institution. Williams-Singh said school leadership is advocating for approval to launch an Associate’s degree program in modern farming, to equip students with cutting-edge skills for the evolving agricultural sector. “Agriculture is not the same industry it was a generation ago,” she said. “We need to teach our students the new techniques and technologies that are shaping farming today, so they can build successful careers in this critical sector.”

Garfield Green, Custos of Manchester, praised the school and its leadership for their proactive approach to community engagement and student development, calling New Forest High a standout institution in the parish. “This is one of the schools in Manchester I am most proud of,” Green said. “I have worked closely with them for years, and what stands out most is not just their commitment to academic excellence – it is the discipline and character they instill in every student. We have to commend the leadership, students, and parent body for building such a strong institution.”

Omar Robinson, an educator and People’s National Party Councillor for the Alligator Pond division, echoed Green’s positive assessment, noting that community-focused fitness events like the 5K fill a critical need across Jamaica. The event, held just days after the national Jamaica Moves Day celebration of physical wellness, reinforces the growing push to address alarming rates of lifestyle-related disease across the country. “Events like this don’t just raise money for a good cause – they send ripples of positive change through the whole community,” Robinson said. “Physical fitness is a core part of long-term health, and we need to see these kinds of initiatives in every corner of Jamaica. We are facing growing lifestyle health challenges across the country, so every step we take to encourage healthy habits matters.”

In western Jamaica, two high-profile fatal shootings on church grounds have ignited urgent public and religious dialogue about whether traditional sacred spaces can still function as the sanctuaries communities have relied on for generations. The most recent tragedy unfolded last Wednesday, when 38-year-old church member Cora Thompson was killed outside Montego Bay’s New Testament Church of God mid-way through a scheduled fasting service. This killing echoes a 2021 attack that claimed the life of 51-year-old Andrea Lowe-Garwood, who was shot and killed during an active worship service at Agape Christian Fellowship Church in Falmouth, Trelawny.

For centuries, churches across Jamaica and much of the world have held a unique social status: more than just gathering places for worship, they were understood as neutral zones of peace, where people facing conflict, persecution or hardship could find safe refuge. Today, regional religious leaders agree that while the core mission of the church to serve its community remains unchanged, the unwritten social respect that once shielded these spaces from violence has sharply deteriorated.

Pastor Michael McAnuff-Jones, co-chairman of the Watchman Christian Leadership Alliance, frames this shift as a “thinning out of a kind of a moral shield” that once protected church grounds. “It may be that in a real sense, this historical kind of societal contract that is in people’s minds about the need for the church to be treated as holy ground, as sacred ground, has broken down,” he explained. “When people begin to see a church building as just another building with walls and a roof, then we have a shift in the way people respond.”

Bishop Conrad Pitkin, senior pastor of Faith Temple Assembly of God in Montego Bay and custos of St James, traces this cultural shift to a broader collapse of foundational societal values. “They have lost respect for the church as a sanctuary. They have lost respect for the sanctity of life. There’s a disregard in our society for people,” Pitkin said. “It is not just a simple loss of respect alone, but the whole question of value has been eroded.”

Bishop Roy Notice, chairman of the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches and administrative bishop of the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica, goes further, describing attacks on church property as an act of desecration that signals a deeper national crisis. “The society is kind of losing its soul” due to rampant violent crime and a widespread “lack of respect and regard for human life,” he argued.

When asked whether the church, through spiritual practice and discernment, could have anticipated and prevented these tragedies through prayer, leaders offered a nuanced, grounded perspective that balances faith with the realities of living in an imperfect world. Notice noted that while divine revelation sometimes forewarns of coming harm, the church operates in a world where “evil is rampant.” “We don’t live in heaven,” he pointed out. “There are times when the Lord reveals it to us before it happens, and there are other times the Lord gives grace to take us through it. And there are other times when the impact is so great, the evil creates victims, and the Lord also guides us through that. So whatever happens, whether we sensed it and discerned it or whether we didn’t, God gives grace for all the occasions.”

McAnuff-Jones echoed this sentiment, adding there is no guarantee of prophetic warning for every potential tragedy. “The reality of life is that we worship a God who intervenes in matters for His own purpose. God is sovereign, and there are times when bad things happen to good people. There are things that happen to Christians that happen to other people. There are things that happen to people who are not in the church; the same things happen to Christians,” he said, citing the historical persecution of the apostles and the crucifixion of Jesus as examples of violence against faithful people.

Even amid rising violence and eroding social norms, religious leaders remain committed to upholding the church’s historic role as a place of refuge. Notice reaffirmed that despite the negative influence of broader societal instability, “the church continues to be a place of refuge, sanctuary, and a place of joy.”

That said, reclaiming the historic safety and sacred status of church grounds will require collective action from across Jamaican society, leaders agree. Pitkin emphasized that broad systemic change is needed to reverse the current trend: “There has to be some level of reinforcement of values and attitudes in our society, and behavioural adjustment. A lot of things need to be done and we are going to have to do it.”

McAnuff-Jones joined this call, pushing for a “new cultural consensus” that re-establishes church spaces as consecrated ground that demands respect. “People should not for one minute believe that this is a place where anything can happen and anything goes,” he said. “As to what God does when people do these things, that’s for God to decide. But I think it is fair to say that, you know, God is not to be toyed with and people should respect that.”

Thousands of educators across Jamaica are set to wear black clothing today and Tuesday as a visible act of protest against what the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) describes as systemic disregard for the teaching profession. The mass demonstration was announced by the JTA in an official press statement released over the weekend, at a time when months of drawn-out contract negotiations have left teachers increasingly disillusioned with the government’s lack of progress on core demands.

In its statement, the JTA acknowledged that the extended negotiation process has placed an unmanageable burden on its rank-and-file members. Many teachers have reported deep-seated frustration, chronic professional exhaustion, and rapidly dwindling patience after months of unfulfilled promises and stalled talks. The association noted that the ongoing delay has not only tested educators’ willingness to compromise, but also eroded their sense of professional worth and dignity as public servants.

JTA President Mark Malabver reaffirmed the organization’s unwavering solidarity with teachers across the island, emphasizing that the body understands the daily sacrifices educators make even amid ongoing uncertainty about their compensation and working conditions. Malabver stressed that the dispute extends far beyond base pay: the fight, he said, is fundamentally a battle for social justice, aimed at correcting long-standing inequities and ensuring that teachers receive the respect and compensation that matches their irreplaceable role in driving Jamaica’s national development.

According to the JTA, Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance has recently extended a formal invitation for a new round of negotiation talks scheduled for Tuesday. The upcoming meeting is framed as a critical make-or-break opportunity to make tangible progress on the JTA’s outstanding list of claims. Two central issues top the association’s agenda: the long-unresolved graduate allowance dispute, and a suite of other outstanding matters related to members’ overall compensation and workplace welfare.

Even with the new meeting scheduled, the JTA was candid about the lack of movement on these priorities to date. Despite the association’s repeated good-faith efforts to move the negotiation process forward over recent months, no significant breakthrough has been achieved on any of the core demands.

Against this backdrop, the JTA has appealed to its members to extend a short window of patience to allow Tuesday’s talks to proceed without premature escalation. The association made clear that this appeal comes with a full understanding of the widespread anger and frustration that permeates the teaching profession right now. At the same time, members have been urged to remain vigilant and on high alert for further updates coming out of the negotiations.

The JTA issued a clear ultimatum to the government: if no meaningful progress is made during Tuesday’s meeting, particularly on the graduate allowance issue and other core demands, the association will put the question of next steps directly to the full membership to decide what action to take. Teachers have been instructed to stand by for official updates immediately following the conclusion of the negotiation session.