By Warren Bertram
Richard Troupe, Director for Safety and Security in Schools, believes the time students spent away from the formal school structure during the COVID-19 pandemic has affected social skills, which is being reflected in an increase in school violence.
Mr. Troupe is suggesting that the socialisation which students were denied due to social distancing protocols for the two years has had a negative effect on their readjustment to the face-to-face school environment.
"Many of these children were in spaces that were not necessarily safe for them. These were spaces that did not offer the kind of structure and supervision. The boys and girls traditionally would have been engaged in a structured orientation programme as they transition from basic to primary or primary to high. We take for granted the value of that kind of structural orientation programme," he reasoned.
Because these students did not have the usual support of their teachers, guidance counsellors or deans of disclipline, Mr. Troupe argued that many of them went without adequate avenues to address their social, emotional and psychological issues.
This, he believes, resulted in their issues being "penned up" for two years, causing it to be "difficult for them to [re-adapt] to that structured environment".
Mr. Troupe was speaking Tuesday on Radio Jamaica's Balancing Justice.
