SCHOOLS IN JAMAICA UNDER SIEGE: Violence, Responsibility, and the Work of Repairing Jamaica’s Social Contract.

By Richard Hugh Blackford - Fine Artist, Author, and Social Commentator

Jamaica is again confronting a painful truth about itself; violence among children is no longer episodic; it is symptomatic. The recent ruling of the Supreme Court of Jamaica, which ordered a school to pay Ja$2 million after a teacher failed to intervene in an escalating argument that turned physical, did more than settle a claim. It clarified responsibility. Silence, the Court affirmed, is not neutrality; it is negligence when children are at risk.

The ruling triggered a familiar debate. The president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association called for more Deans of Discipline. Members of the public rushed to defend the teacher’s non-action. And, predictably, nostalgia returned—invocations of the “village” that once raised the child.

But memory can be selective. A massive part of that village was the school. Parents deposited their children there as a safe space while they worked. The school was not merely a site of instruction; it was a moral commons, a buffer against the rough edges of life.

I’ve followed these arguments for decades, and one conclusion keeps resurfacing: the only constant is change. The question is not whether Jamaica has changed; but whether our institutions have adapted responsibly to the changes they helped unleash.

HOW VIOLENCE BECAME NORMAL

Between the 1940s and 1960s, Jamaica was among the safest societies anywhere. Crime was low. Interdependence was high. Respect—for elders and for one another—was enforced socially because it had to be. There were fewer alternatives.

By the early 1970s, the ground shifted. Electricity spread. Radio and television entered more homes. With them came powerful cultural transmitters—American cinema, music, and imagery—broadcasting a glamorized gun culture and sexual permissiveness. These were not inherently evil influences, but they arrived without preparation.

Policy framers opened the doors to the information age while underinvesting in the intellectual, civic, and ethical development needed to navigate it. Add the Cold War’s East–West ideological struggle bleeding into domestic politics, and the island’s political divide metastasized into internecine warfare. Politicians softened the language by calling it “political violence,” effectively normalizing Jamaicans harming Jamaicans for power.

Then came ganja and cocaine trafficking. High-powered weapons proliferated. Desire was fed by Hollywood—Django, Dirty Harry, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral—and by our own cinematic milestone, The Harder They Come. Violence was absorbed culturally and then managed through state violence. Jamaica normalized force and then tried to control it with more force.

Against that backdrop, it is disingenuous to ask why children behave violently. They are not anomalies; they are mirrors.

WHY SCHOOLS MATTER MORE NOW, NOT LESS

If violence has been socialized, it must be de-socialized. And no institution is better placed than the school. That does not mean teachers should be lone enforcers or sacrificial lambs. It means schools must be resourced and reimagined as centers of prevention, not just reaction.

The Supreme Court ruling is not an attack on teachers; it is a recalibration of duty. A teacher’s presence confers authority—and with it, responsibility to act reasonably to prevent harm. The public debate should move beyond blame to capacity.

HERE ARE SOME RECOMMENDATIONS: Repairing the Village Through the School comes from establishing Clear Duty-of-Care Protocols.

By codifying expectations for intervention- teachers will know what they must do, when, and how. Training reduces hesitation, while clarity protects both students and educators.

Restorative Justice as First Response

Expand restorative practices that de-escalate conflict, teach accountability, and repair harm—before matters turn violent or punitive.

Provide Deans of Discipline—with Support Teams. It should not be that there are Deans appointed; they must be provided with multidisciplinary teams (guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists). Discipline without care reproduces the problem.

Provide Mandatory Conflict-De-escalation Training

Annual certification for all school staff in recognizing escalation, intervening safely, and documenting incidents.

Curriculum for Civic and Media Literacy

Teach students how media shapes behavior, how to resolve disputes, and how to read power critically. Preparation is prevention.

Parent–School Compacts

Rebuild trust through formal agreements that set shared expectations. Schools cannot substitute for parenting—but they can partner with it.

Establish Data-Driven Early Warning Systems

By tracking incidents, attendance, and behavioral markers, schools will be able to identify at-risk students early and intervene before violence erupts.

Community Anchors on Campus

Open schools after hours for mentorship, sports, arts, and tutoring. Make the campus the safest place in the community again.

Protect Teachers Who Act in Good Faith by providing legal and administrative backing for reasonable interventions. Fear of liability should not paralyze action.

Finally, Jamaica must Nationally acknowledge the country's Normalization of Violence.

Policy reform must start with honesty. Until Jamaica names how violence was normalized socially, culturally, and politically, solutions will be cosmetic.

A society that normalized violence cannot outsource virtue to its children. If we expect them to behave differently, we must build institutions that teach, model, and enforce different norms. Schools are under siege precisely because they sit at the fault line of our contradictions.

The Supreme Court has spoken on responsibility. Now the country must speak—clearly—on repair.