Minister of Education Andrew Holness (right) and chairman of Peace and Love in Society (PALS), Morin Seymour, shake hands and exchange documents after the signing of the memorandum of understanding on Creating and Maintaining Safe Schools yesterday at the Ministry's offices in Kingston. Janilee Abrikian, general manager of PALS, looks on. - JIS Photo

Teachers are under stress. They are fed up with disruptive and antisocial behaviour in schools. The cries are loud and clear and Peace and Love in Society (PALS), which has a burning desire to effect behavioural change that will reduce and prevent violence and conflict, has answered the calls.

The organisation has partnered with the Ministry of Education to address the problems in schools over a five-year period.

Phase one

The first phase of the project began May 1 and is to end December 2009. It will involve 90 primary and junior-high schools and 12 high schools. The Ministry of Education has provided $7 million for this phase.

PALS will carry out training sessions for stakeholder groups - administration, teachers, students, parents, community members, Ministry of Education personnel, school resource officers and teachers' college personnel.

"We are very close to a dream that PALS has had for years - a hard-paper policy to attack violence in schools," Janilee Abrikian, general manager of PALS, said yesterday during thesigning of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between PALS and the Ministry of Education.

Abrikian told the gathering at the Ministry of Education's head offices in Kingston that the solutions would touch on the physical, psychological, policy, among other things.

"We can assure you that there will be targetable outputs and you can hold us accountable for results," said the general manager.

PALS will also assist schools with creating a systematic approach to managing students' behaviour.

The major component will address rules and procedures, the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in managing student behaviour and methods for creating a positive climate and reinforcing desirable behaviours.

Chairman of PALS, Morin Seymour, said the signing of the MOU was the start of a new journey.

"Our plan is to benchmark the process to enable us to achieve the best and highest outcomes," Seymour said.

Behaviour management

In his remarks, Andrew Holness, minister of education, said behaviour management was critical to improving students' performance in schools.

Holness lauded PALS for its efforts, noting that he was particularly interested in the model that was developed.

"Our teachers are under stress because of the problem of antisocial behaviour in schools. It is so widespread, we can classify it as endemic," Holness said, adding that the situation was overwhelming for some schools.

"For too long, we have used the old tools of corporal punishment, deprivation ... and those have not serve us well," said the education minister.

Holness said while he believed that interventions to address behavioural problems in schools should begin at the primary level, secondary schools were in dire need of programmes to address antisocial behaviour.

He noted that, provided he could secure more funds, more high schools would be included.

PALS was formed in 1994 and has interfaced with some 250 schools over the years.

The organisation promotes peace and amicable resolution of conflicts within society.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com