By Kimone Witter
Education Minister Fayval Williams says she is awaiting the report from Newell High School in St. Elizabeth on what triggered the incident that resulted in a male teacher threatening to kill a student.
The school board is meeting Friday to discuss the incident.
But Mrs Williams said the ministry has taken a zero tolerance approach to violence in schools and has urged educators to seek help from colleagues when they no longer feel in control.
Footage of the incident, which has been widely circulated on social media, also showed the educator verbally assaulting and chasing the male student.
Speaking Friday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, the Education Minister said she cannot accept that the teacher was overwhelmed, as he had options available to de-escalate the situation.
She said he could have called for the school's dean of discipline, the vice principal or principal, and if the matter needed the intervention of the police, they could also have been called in.
She suggested the teacher's actions went against efforts by the ministry to stamp out violence in schools.
"We're trying to tell society that we have normalised violence and we need to move from that space where we recognise what we're doing to ourselves, our children, and that if we don't stop, we're going to get a society in which it will be unbearable to live. We have to condemn these things in our classrooms," Mrs. Williams declared.
The minister said the school board, in its meeting, will deliberate on all the eyewitness reports of the incident. But she will have to wait until a disciplinary hearing is held and for a report to be sent to her office.
The Office of the Children's Advocate and the police are also investigating the incident. The Jamaica Teachers' Association has said it is making further checks before commenting.
Minister Williams, in the meantime, said the Ministry of Education is disturbed by the videos being circulated of students engaged in physical altercations at school as well as videos featuring teachers.
She said the ministry will be reviewing its conflict resolution initiatives and redoubling its efforts to "see what else we can bring to bear" to reduce these situations.
