The crime and education link
Here is the Ministry Paper tabled by Education Minister Ronald Thwaites in Parliament Tuesday on a preventative initiative in schools to ameliorate Jamaica’s crime problem.
Background/context
Criminals are not born; they are formed — often by neglect or poor socialisation. The major positive environments in the formative process are school, church and/or family. Every child goes to school at some time. There is no other institution with such potential for positive socialisation. As such, law-abiding habits ought to be expressly connected with the school experience.
A recent local study identified the links between the behaviour patterns of children and their later anti-social conduct and noted that both can most often be predicted from school days.
Issues
Studies show that many who end up committing serious crime were frequently absent from school; exhibited cognitive or social abnormalities; were not assessed or treated adequately; had little or no effective family/teacher support and dropped-out/”graduated” with inadequate or no certification.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) study identifies certain junior high/high schools which the individuals in the study attended.
Ministry of Education’s response
Given the identification of 56 seriously affected schools (inclusive of 18 identified by the JCF), beginning February 2014, a special intervention will be crafted for each of these schools to:
a) Identify troubled, deviant and seriously disadvantaged students
b) Assess and address their situations
c) Prevent drop-outs.
Projections
Building from the emergency response detailed in the foregoing, the MoE also proposes a system-wide intervention beginning in 2014. It will:
* Administer a test to determine the social and emotional state of at-risk students — first in an early grade and later at an intermediate level, for example Grade 9, in selected schools;
* Complete development of regional referral centres to treat with major dysfunctional tendencies;
* Offer teachers in primary schools training in counselling, parental engagement and primary therapies related to challenged children;
* Request a revision of the courses in behaviour management in all teacher training institutions to ensure that they cover the emerging behavioural challenges being displayed by students;
* Appoint social workers in education regions who will network with relevant ministries and agencies;
* Provide instruction to principals on how to identify and respond to disturbed students;
* Implement a programme to detect and address disruptive conduct and drop-out risks in certain grades by September 2015;
* Expand opportunities for students to become involved in uniformed groups, sports and creative arts and thereby to engage and reform those with negative tendencies;
* Engage the police and military as part of a team to periodically attend the most vulnerable schools in a non-threatening way to befriend, promote order and reinforce positive constructive behaviour.
Providing alternatives to gang engagement
Starting in 2014, the Ministry of Education (MoE) proposes to strengthen all the programmes in schools, including home, family life and personal development programmes, as well as the civics curriculum. This, in an effort to highlight appropriate values and attitudes expected of students, as well as to sharpen their understanding of the dead-end nature of gang involvement and to reinforce positive and law-abiding behaviour patterns. The programmes will also emphasise character-building and positive socialisation as both a preventative and corrective approach to anti-social behaviours.
Schools will be instructed to devote substantially more time within their periods for assemblies, and form periods, to the students’ personal and social development, in order to enforce order and discipline, wholesome inter-personal relationships and respectful speech.
Over the next three years, schools will be enabled to intensify uniformed groups, physical education, sports and cultural engagement. Two persons with social work training/skills will be deployed to each region within this school year, to treat with likely drop-outs or children identified as having behavioural problems to deepen engagement with family and community.
Where necessary, teachers and/or volunteers will be chosen, trained and given responsibility for engaging students in sporting and cultural pursuits. Appropriate teaching and learning materials are being prepared for September 2014.
The programme, entitled ‘Valuable Pathways’, is one that will enable students to develop positive values and attitudes to improve behaviour in school, home and society. The programme will also assist parents to develop appropriate values and attitudes, not only towards their children, but to others in their community. The media will be engaged as an important partner in the process.
Involving the wider community in school-based character building
Further, the MoE invites and challenges all service clubs, sports clubs, churches and all other civic groupings to identify a school(s) of special interest and commit themselves to a programme of youth mentorship. This will be achieved through co-operation with school boards, administrators and teachers. The National Parenting Support Commission has been asked to co-ordinate initial meetings of leaders of religious denominations, presidents of service organisations and citizens’ associations. The assistance of the Social Development Commission will be sought. The primary objectives are to create a community of interest and care around each public school and improve productivity and student achievement.
Co-ordinating committee
A co-ordinating committee to refine, implement and evaluate this initiative has been identified and includes:
* Representatives of the Association of Guidance Counsellors, deans of discipline and school safety
* Head of Guidance & Counselling Division, MoE or nominee, National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC), as well as representatives from ministries of national security, justice, youth and culture, sports, and social security, as well as eminent persons drawn from the field of health.
The committee will recommend a construct/entity to implement, monitor and evaluate the approved interventions and embed them as necessary.
Financial considerations
Budgetary provision will be made in the 2014/15 financial year to support the full implementation of the programme. Much of the cost can be met by inter-agency partnership and by reallocation of existing resources.
Conclusion
Members are being asked to note that the MoE has empanelled a committee to develop a special pre-emptive intervention through the school system, which when fully implemented, should significantly contribute to the reduction of crime in Jamaica over the medium to long term.