asked Education Minister, Hon. Shawn Edward. He says the Ministry is ensuring students are taught the social skills and values necessary for integration into wider society. Edward says schools should not only be about the impartation of knowledge but the transference of norms. This endeavour, he says, is compounded by recent incidents in schools where law enforcement got involved.

“It has to be a multi-pronged approach. It just can’t be looking at gangs and gang violence in isolation. I continue to make the point that the behaviours in the wider society will invariably infiltrate the school system.” the Minister said.

He adds that adults need to set good examples for the children in their lives. “I believe in the power of example and if we as a society, as adults, exhibit certain behavioural traits, children as onlookers will replicate.”

Edward reiterates that the education system must teach students skills which will be useful in their social lives. “If it is an education system that only puts out people who are well-trained academically and don't have the attitude or values to go together with their impressive grades, our system is failing somewhere,” he stresses. Dispute the current challenges, he says, the Ministry will continue meeting students where they’re at. “Once the children come to school, we try to meet them at their level and see how best we can encourage them to desist from some of the behaviours that will not auger well for their development.”

Since the reopening of school, law enforcement has had to respond to two separate stabbing incidents involving secondary school students in the city centre. Educators are imploring parents to organise ways in which students can be at home as quickly as possible.