Education ministry trains more than 100 deans of discipline

The Ministry of Education says it has trained more than 100 deans of discipline in high schools to enhance their capacity to deal with anti-social behavior among students.

The Ministry says the deans of discipline were recently exposed to a one-week intensive training course at the Jamaica Police Academy in St Catherine.

It says they were trained defensive tactics, security audit, critical incident report writing, conflict resolution strategies, the rights and responsibilities of the child, the role of parents and communities, among other things.

Deans of Discipline are mandated to, among other things, provide intervention for students' disciplinary issues; develop appropriate programmes to promote positive behaviour; monitor; and keep a log of students' attendance and truancy issues.

Speaking at the closing out ceremony last week, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites charged deans of discipline to be the ones to lead the drive for the restoration and enforcement of discipline in the schools, and said they had the full backing of the Ministry of Education.