President of the Jamaica Teachers' Association Dr. Mark Smith has again expressed concern over the number of violent incidents taking place at or near schools.

 

Dr. Smith says the authorities must muster the will to effectively tackle the issue. 

 

"We have to understand that it's only a matter of time that one of those bullets may accidentally find themselves into a teacher or a student," he warned, adding that not being the intended target is little comfort to someone who has been shot. 

 

"We need to bring resources to bear. And I know that the police have significant issues when it comes on to resources, a judicial system that is not moving fast enough to deal with the many cases and the backlog of cases that oftentimes allows criminals to be on the roads. We have to move towards addressing this as a country in a serious way. These brazen acts of what I call terror cannot continue," said the JTA president.    

 

Dr. Smith said communities must unite and understand that the collective safety of the society is at risk, particularly when safe havens are created for criminals. 

 

"We must move towards ensuring we are able to create safe schools for our children and all our teachers and other members of staff within those facilities. Interventions to address these things may include ensuring that legislation is brought, that anybody that commits a crime in a predetermined distance from a school or on the school campus, the sentence is a lot stricter. So people may think twice, because what they see schools are right now is a soft target," he suggested. 

 

The JTA president also suggested that district constables may need to be placed at schools. 

 

He was addressing a meeting of teachers in St. Mary earlier this week.