Education ministry invests $72m into behaviour-change programme

With indiscipline continuing to rage in schools islandwide, the Government will pump an additional $72 million in the next tranche of grants to support the Behaviour Change Support Services for Students initiative in schools.

Fayval Williams, minister of education and youth, made this announcement on Wednesday after addressing the recent brawl on the grounds of Jamaica College by students of Mona High School on Monday and the killing of Randino James, an Anchovy High School student on Friday.

The announcement was made during the Post-Cabinet press briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Behaviour Change Support Services for Students has a range of services that include health promotion; health education; guidance, counselling and mental health services; a healthy, safe and secure school environment; nutrition health services; student health services; and behaviour -change support.

Also, this initiative is designed to bring both behaviour change support services and academic support to address the holistic development of students.

Williams said this new model will have a community or team approach for the best interest of students.

“I’m sure Jamaicans will agree with me that we need to see a marked change in the behaviour of our students in the classroom, on the school compounds, at the school gate, on the way home, on the way back to school, in their communities because our children, they are growing up to be the next generation of Jamaicans, and if we can’t grow them up in a way that would suggest to us that they would take their rightful place in Jamaica … we would have to double, triple, quadruple our efforts to ensure that it is so,” Williams said.

“We want to promote health and pro-social behaviours as well as help students to develop life skills that enable them to make positive decisions and manage their developmental issues,” she continued.

She said the approach through the Behaviour Change Support Services for Students will be similar to how scientists get together to discuss a particular project and deliver a better product.

“What we’re doing in our schools (is) we want to ensure all students have the best opportunity to participate in the teaching and learning programme in their schools and to develop healthy (habits),” Williams said.

She said the emphasis on a collaborative or team approach by those who are empowered to offer the services is to ensure that all students have the best opportunity to participate in the teaching and learning programmes in their schools,.

The Behaviour Change Support Services is designed with a team format, with a hierarchical structure from principal/vice principals to guidance counsellors, health and family life teachers, deans of discipline, and school nurses.

“Traditionally, these different providers have operated singularly in delivering the services. We are saying that it’s going to be a more powerful delivery on behalf of the students if all of these persons come together as a team to share information about the student in order to be able to help that student more powerfully,” she said.

Williams said Jamaica has approximately 1,200 guidance counsellors, 139 established deans and others who are acting in the position, 180 health and family life educators - one in each secondary school - and 120 nurses.

“When we looked at the cost of having these persons in our schools, it’s about $5 billion annually, so it behoves us to really look at how we are delivering these services to see if there’s a better way that we can go in,” Williams said.

“The idea of the collaboration, to give credit where credit is due, came out of the deans of discipline annual conference. We have since built the awareness among principals at all our back-to-school conferences. The regions have been sensitised, and we’re in the roll-out,” she said.

At some primary schools, she said there may not be deans of disciplines, but there is at least a senior teacher or vice-principal in the position under the safety and security umbrella in those schools.

Williams also noted that the Behaviour Change Support Services for Students programme would allow an opportunity for Jamaican administrators to be inclusive, collaborative and introspective.

“We want to reinforce the notion of a community of persons working together for the best interests of the students, and you can see where this would mean that students would not fall through the cracks,” she said.

Williams believes such an approach will reduce teachers feelings overburdened and have a community to speak to about the students and get perspectives from each other.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com