PROJECT “GOLDEN CHILD” - KCNSA SAFE STUDENT PROJECT

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines school violence as “All forms of violence that takes place in and around schools and is experienced by students and perpetrated by other students, teachers and other school staff ”. In this regard, school is the location where the violence occurs, and it is not intended to suggest a type of violence.

School violence disrupt learning and have a negative effect on students, schools, and the broader community. All students have the right to learn in a safe school environment. Consequently, school administrators and government officials have a duty of care to ensure that the school environment is conducive to uninterrupted learning.

Quite often, our nation is faced with incidents of violence against our children (usually by their peers) and therefore, all stakeholders (families, communities, schools, Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAS), non-governmental organizations (NGOS), and Service Clubs) must have a full understanding of the duty of care that is necessary for the protection of our children and take steps to ensure the safety of students as they go about their school related activities.

In recognition of our duty of care to the children of Jamaica, the Kiwanis Club of North St Andrew (KCNSA) in collaboration with the Jamaica Constabulary Force Community Safety and Security Branch (JCF CSSB) and the Road Safety Unit of the Ministry of Transport and Mining has embarked on PROJECT “GOLDEN CHILD”, which is a KCNSA Student Safety Project, which was launched at our 49th Anniversary Meeting on Thursday 23 March 2023.

The project made its debut at the John Mills Primary School, 26a Retirement Road, Kingston 5 on Tuesday 25 April 2023.

This project focuses initially on the ten (10) Builders Clubs (Primary School Students) sponsored by the KCNSA, with the intention to expand it to include Key Clubs (High Schools) and CKI Clubs (Universities and Colleges) which are similarly sponsored. The main aim of the project is to share safety information with the students (brochures, videos, oral presentations and demonstrations) and encourage best practices especially when using the roads (Road Safety) and to help them to understand the concept of Situational Awareness, physically or online and how they can take steps to keep themselves safe whether they are on the internet, on school property, on the way to or from school, during a school-sponsored event or on the way to or from a school-sponsored event (Personal Safety).

In addition, where necessary, security assessments will be conducted on school premises in order to provide recommendations to school administrators for infrastructure improvements that will enhance the security of the school compound.

The desired end state of the project is an adequately trained student who is better able to protect him/herself using the information gleaned and can present him/herself as a force multiplier in spreading the word to family and community members.

The Kiwanis Club of North St. Andrew, invites all well thinking stakeholders to join us on this journey, as we aim to empower our students to stay safe in the various environments that they encounter daily and do our part to ensure that our children may grow up in a safer environment which is conducive to comfortable learning and sustained development.