It’s the start of the new school year and already the number of violent incidents in our schools is on the rise. September 19, 2005 one person was shot dead at Cockburn Gardens Primary School on the Hagley Park Road, St. Andrew. VauxHall High school in East Kingston closed in protest as teachers and students fear for their lives due to the gang warfare in the community.

Follow up:

At Cockburn Gardens Primary gunmen entered the school compound after 2:00pm opening fire. The students had to take cover however one man who was there to collect a student was shot dead. Not much information has been released so far as police are still investigating the incident.
At Vauxhall High in East Kingston one wall which was damaged during Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 is the cause of major concerns to both teachers and students. The wall acts as a boundary between Vauxhall and Black Street a section of Browns Town. Regular bouts of gang fighting are seen as rival gangs from Black Street area and McIntyre Villa popularly known as Dunkirk use this opening in the wall through the school.
It has been one year since Hurricane Ivan and to date this wall is not fixed. Shame on you Phillip Paulwell this is your constituency. There is no use the PNP campaign for children to be in school if they cannot go to a school where they feel safe. No child can learn under those circumstances.
Security for schools in Jamaica needs to be looked at urgently. At the close of the school year 2004-2005 a number of weapons which were taken from students were shown in the media. It was very disturbing. Permanent security for each school is obviously necessary to protect our students from themselves and from outside wrongdoers.
Our children are our nation’s future and education is key.
Nuff Love