The heads of the island’s police divisions have been instructed to work with schools to examine their safety programmes and upgrade them where necessary.

They will visit schools, hold discussions with principals, and assess which institutions are in need of new safety measures, or need their safety programme examined.

This follows a recent spate of violent incidents at schools, some of them fatal.

National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang gave the update while speaking at the inter ministerial school support retreat, in Montego-Bay, St James, recently.

The forum allowed for a multi-agency response to violence in schools in western Jamaica.

Dr Chang stressed that the government is committed to strengthening collaborative efforts to ensure the safety and security of students and teachers.

He said, with the security forces supporting social workers, this will ensure educators have a safe environment, within which to operate.