Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn has called on teachers to embrace their roles as "change makers" to effectively transform what she describes as "a pervasive negative culture in the society".

Speaking to administrators and educators at the JN Bank-sponsored Jamaica Independent Schools' Association's School Leaders' Conference in Montego Bay, St James, on April 26, the Queen's Counsel bemoaned that Jamaicans have developed a "dysfunctional moral compass.

"'Jamaica, land we love,' needs a few good men and women to stand up and be counted as effective change makers," the DPP said, urging school leaders to see themselves as warriors and defenders of positive values and attitudes.

"You have to make sure that you transcend negativity and emphasise positivity not only in the students, but in your colleague teachers, in the parents, in the community, and generally in the society," she stated.

Llewellyn also blamed poor parenting as a contributor to the breakdown in values and emerging trends such as the lottery scam, in which some students in western Jamaica are participating.

"While you have to be warriors for the right thing, you have to seek to rescue the mind of these victims of lawlessness who believe that easy money can just come without any effort, apart from 'twanging' on the telephone," she urged the school leaders.

She charged participants to treat their professions as vocations and to constantly reflect on what they do and to believe in it. She also called on them to sharpen their skills through continual learning, as well as to be fair and to always act with integrity on the mission called 'Project Jamaica'.