Kindly allow me to express my disgust with the violence among schoolboys from some of our Corporate Area schools, and the media, which paints this criminal act as being associated with the annual Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The term 'pre-champs violence' is clearly a misnomer as violence among the groups is an ongoing and annual affair and not restricted to the athletic season.

The boys involved attack anyone who is deemed vulnerable and thought to be from a rival school. Many youngsters have been attacked in the past but it appears that because most of these incidents are not on a major scale, and are not reported to the police, people believe it never happened.

The basis for the violence is unclear but what is evident is that there is a tremendous level of hatred being harboured by these boys for their peers.

One of the arguments being put forward for this criminal act against innocent students from one particular school is that there is a deep seated jealousy among the boys of other schools, who have not been able to enjoy academic or sporting success and this is their way of rebelling. This is primarily because the criminal acts really surfaced during a period of sustained success for one particular school.

We are now faced with a situation where schoolboy gangs are the order of the day as walking by one's self can be a life-threatening experience.

The solution to this violence lies in the hands of the Ministry of Education and the police approaching the problem head-on. Failure to do so will result in the escalation of criminality among our schoolboys.

I am, etc.,

mrzephyrus23@aol.com

St Catherine