Chang meets with some principals regarding school violence

 

Amid growing concerns about the surge in deadly violence in schools, National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang held talks with a group of principals on Friday to discuss the crisis.

 

Dr. Chang met with principals from Western Jamaica at a one-day Inter-Ministerial School Support Retreat at the Iberostar Convention Centre in Montego Bay, St. James.

 

The rising violence in schools, challenges facing parents to send their children to school and students being recruited into lottery scamming were some of the topics discussed at the meeting.

 

Speaking to the media following the close-door meeting, Dr. Chang said the recruitment of students into lottery scamming is of major concern to the authorities.

 

He said many students are being put at risk.

 

"You must bear in mind that it is a technical operation and those who grew up in the digital age, so to speak, with cell phones, smartphones and iPads and things, can easily access scamming. And in an economy with limited opportunities, some of these young, quite bright kids, find it the easier way to make a living and make a very decent living out of it. But it involves high risk and then if you break any laws you're creating a whole new ecosystem which we have to deal with," he warned. 

 

Friday's meeting with the school administrators comes just days after a 17-year-old student of the Catholic College in Manchester, was charged for the murder of his classmate, Akeilia White.

 

Akeilia, who was 20, died from stab wounds she received during a dispute at the institution on Monday.

 

Another 17-year-old was wounded when he came to her assistance.