Provisions under the modernised Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) (Amendment) Act, 2021, commonly called the Anti-Gang legislation now allows for the prosecution of groups engaged in criminal activities.

This was stated by Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Jeremy Taylor, at the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Anti-Gang Week Townhall, on November 17, held at the Office of the Commissioner of Police in Kingston and online.

“What has changed with the new legislation is that we no longer have to look at individuals, because up to 2014 we really could only prosecute the individual, irrespective of what other persons may have done either in the background or foreground. You could only move against the individual in that respect. Now, this new Act allows us to move against groups and you have seen that we have brought certain groups to trial,” Mr. Taylor said.

He explained that the law, passed in 2014 and amended in 2021, spreads a broad net to facilitate the capture of all persons complicit in criminal activities.

“Even if you are not the trigger person, you are the person who drives them to do the crime, you are charged as a facilitator of the criminal offence, just as how if you are the person who shoots the person, you are also charged as the facilitator of the criminal offence,” he explains.

The law goes further to clarify that individuals participating in activities that render any benefit to a gang also contravene the law.

“It speaks about providing a benefit to a criminal organisation. These are the gun bags; if you carry the guns for the criminal organisation to hide or to ‘lock’, you have provided a benefit. If you carry the stolen goods, you carry them to a pawn shop and you sell them, you have provided a benefit. If you get a doctor for a person, knowing he is a member of a gang and has committed a gang-related activity, you have provided a benefit… . The law has tried to cover all the major areas,” Mr. Taylor said.

Information from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) indicates that gang violence contributes to an estimated 80 per cent of murders in the country.

Anti-Gang Week is being observed from November 13 to 19, under the theme ‘Leggo Di Gang, Lift Up Jamaica’.

The week of activities is being hosted by the Ministry of Education and Youth, in collaboration with the JCF.

The Ministry of Education and Youth launched National Parent Month on November 1, under the theme, ‘Reignite the Village’ . The launch event, which took place at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, saw a wide cross section of parents participating in the Fireside Chat forum that explored what parenting looks like in the 21st Century.

Positive Parenting is an MOEY priority and research indicates that when parents benefit from community-based support and quality services, it can lead to better outcomes for the children.

Visit our social media pages for the month-long series of planned activities.

 

Thirty-two employees of the Ministry of Education and Youth were, on Thursday (November 3), honoured for just over 873 collective years of dedicated service to the education sector, during a retirement awards banquet at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, who spoke during the function, said the occasion was a remarkable achievement, not only for the employees but also the Ministry.

“Long years of service is ample proof of the conducive working environment our employees operate in at the Ministry of Education and Youth. With a staff contingent of approximately 3,000 team members, our people are and remain our greatest assets,” she stated.

Minister Williams congratulated the retirees, who served as Education Officers, Directors, Managers, and support staff, among other positions.

She pointed out: “We take inspiration from the shining sense of professionalism you displayed day in and day out, throughout your careers at the Ministry”.

Mrs. Williams also encouraged them to assist in mentoring the nation’s youth as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.

“We need your collective wisdom. We need your guidance. We need your support for these children. Take them on and help them and give them the wisdom of your years,” she urged.

Mrs. Williams also assured that the professional development of its employees will remain one of the Ministry’s priorities, adding that it will continue allocating resources and incentives to further motivate its staff.

The banquet, held under the theme ‘It’s Time to Re-fire, not Retire’, was attended by family members and well-wishers of the retirees, colleagues, and senior Ministry officials, including Acting Permanent Secretary, Maureen Dwyer, and Acting Chief Education Officer, Dr. Kasan Troupe.

A long-serving educator is expressing full confidence in the Jamaican education system to produce high achievers in the classroom and to tangibly address the welfare of teachers.

According to Accounts teacher in the Business Department at the Jonathan Grant High School in Spanish Town, Sonia Lyons-Gayle, who was recently awarded for 35 years’ service at the institution, she has experienced education systems overseas, and the working conditions are not always the best.

“I want to encourage the teachers who are in the system, especially those who have just started, that it is a very noble profession. Persons are going elsewhere but the students need the teachers to guide them on the right path of life. Although the money might be nice, the task is not easy with those [overseas] children,” she told JIS News.

“It is easier for me to deal with Jamaican students, and I love it here at Jonathan Grant; it is my home. It is an excellent school, the teachers are great, and we take on students like they are our children,” Mrs. Lyons-Gayle added.

She said teaching has allowed her to meet very important persons in the society and has also enabled her to aid in moulding the lives of scores of nation-builders.

Mrs. Lyons-Gayle said the award has made her “very happy, knowing that my contribution has been appreciated”.

Another teacher at the school, Josephine Nelson, was also recognised for 35 years of service to the institution.

“We can make it if we try hard enough, and I am comfortable. It is a pleasure being a teacher, and I love the profession. It keeps you alive; it is my passion,” she said.

Ms. Nelson described the award as “encouraging, and it motivates the teachers to do more”.

Krisan Thomas, who is in her third year as a teacher at her former high school, was awarded for being Form Teacher of the Year (Shift B).

“It shows that I am doing better than I had thought, and it is going to push me further. It is not easy, but we are here for a reason, and there are lives to be impacted, and the students are depending on us,” Miss Thomas said.

Meanwhile, Principal of the School, Dr. O’Neil Ankle, reported that after difficulties caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the school is “on an upward trajectory”.

“Jonathan Grant is moving in the right direction. Yes, we have much to do, yet it is a good look,” the Principal told the audience.

The Ministry of Education and Youth has launched an initiative aimed at ending violence in schools.

Dubbed ‘Just Medz It’, the yearlong campaign seeks to shift the culture of violent confrontations and responses among children and students and equip them with conflict-resolution strategies that are peaceful and healthy.

It was launched on Wednesday (October 19) at Wolmer’s Boys’ School, National Heroes Circle, Kingston.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, said the campaign is a national call to action for every single Jamaican and organisation to support efforts to engender and sustain a culture of discipline and peace in the home, school, and community.

She said that the Ministry intends to consolidate its human and financial resources, which will be brought to bear on the campaign.

“This includes the Safety and Security in Schools Unit, the Guidance Counselling Unit, the Health and Family Life Education programme, the Character Education programme, the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), and the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC),” she indicated.

Just Medz It will employ a multifaceted approach to reduce the incidence of violence in schools by improving the physical infrastructure, teaching and incentivising strategies to resolve conflicts peacefully, and providing psychosocial support to students and parents.

It will also utilise the creative arts to maximise whole-school engagement and introduce character education programmes to promote a culture of pro-social behaviour among students.

Expansion of the uniformed groups in schools, clubs, and societies is a key intervention under the programme.

Noting that the initiative will involve multi-sector engagement, Mrs. Williams said non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector, community-based and faith-based groups are invited to partner with the Ministry on the initiative.

Contending that violence in the society is being reflected in the learning institutions, she urged every citizen to play their part by becoming “promoters of peace”.

“We want a national call to action for educators, parents, students and the general public to take personal and collective responsibility to end violence in schools,” she said, reiterating the Ministry’s commitment to ensuring that learning institutions are safe environments for children.

Other strategies under the initiative include increased guidance counselling services at schools, development of services to facilitate research and promote public discourse, as well as policy initiatives to prevent violence in schools.

A public education campaign will be conducted for the duration of the campaign and benchmark indicators will be established to determine the efficacy of the initiative.

Parents are being encouraged to practise and teach proper conflict resolution methods to their children, to help prevent violent behavioural outcomes.

The call came from Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, as she addressed a virtual Dress and Grooming Consultation Session with parents on Tuesday, October 4.

“What we are seeing playing out in our schools is just the behaviour that they have absorbed in the homes and in the communities… and when they come to school, they don’t have a sense of how [to] interact with other students [during a disagreement],” she said.

The Minister pointed out that too often children are exposed to violence within their homes and communities.

“Violence has been perpetrated on them. We really need to stop as a society and understand the negative impact of that, and to know that there are boundaries and rules,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Williams noted that a study conducted on four-year-old students from the Early Childhood sector three years ago showed that “maybe 20 per cent or so, by the time they get to [age] four, have behavioural and early literacy and numeracy issues”.

She argued that the results indicate that many of those children faced physical and verbal abuse within the home.

“We need to stop as a society and understand that we are really damaging the heart [and] the minds of our children by the things we do and how we relate to them,” the Minister said.

“We interact with them in a very rough way. There’s plenty of research that is telling us that we are damaging the psyche of our children when we hit them, yell, or hurl expletives at them,” she added.

Persons are encouraged to report child abuse to the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) by calling the 24-hour helpline, 2-1-1.