Holmwood Technical High gets support after murder of school bus driver

By Kimone Witter    

 

Students and staff at Holmwood Technical High School in Manchester received support from various stakeholders on Monday following Friday's murder of a bus driver employed to the institution.

 

Rohan Gentles was shot at the school in view of students.

 

Hours after the shooting, the police reported that a car was intercepted in nearby Clarendon and several suspects held.

 

Addressing an audience at Holmwood Technical on Monday morning, Minister of Education and Youth, Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon, said the government is taking the shooting incidents at schools seriously and is discussing penalties.

 

Dr. Morris Dixon said she will be pushing for the completion of a school safety policy. 

 

"I want you to know that it wasn't just, oh, another incident happened. We took what happened really seriously. And from Friday, we've been talking about how we can move it forward. And also, there's a school safety policy that's being worked on between the Ministry of Education and also the Ministry of National Security, that's been in the works... but we have said that this needs to be completed at the end of the month," she noted. 

 

The minister said UNICEF is also assisting the government in finalising the policy.

 

"We expect, at the end of November, that review to be done because we have to prioritise safety in schools. And our government is going to do whatever we have to do to make it clear to criminals that schools are not fair game," Dr. Morris Dixon maintained.