Mico University College to Focus on Crime and Violence on Research Day

Crime and Violence and its impact on society will be the focus of The Mico University College’s Research Day 2017, which will take place on Wednesday, April 26.

The event will be held on the campus of the university under the theme: ‘Education Re-imagined: Toward a Solution for Crime and Violence’. Addressing a JIS ‘Think Tank’, yesterday (April 19),

President of Mico, Dr. Asburn Pinnock, said the aim is to ventilate the issues and to bring in stakeholders to discuss the role that education plays in dismantling crime.

“We are playing our role at The Mico University College, and we believe that we have to look at preventing crime from a scientific perspective, and that is through research,” he said.

The Mico Research Day 2017 will facilitate practitioners and researchers from all levels of the education system to share their experiences, research and findings to craft solutions to common challenges.

Outlining the day’s activities, Senior Research Fellow at Mico and Chair of the Research Day Committee, Sandra Grey-Alvaranga, said the event will begin at 9:00 a.m. with an opening ceremony.

Chief of Defence Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Major General Rocky Meade, will be the guest speaker.

“He is expected to bring a perspective on the issue of crime, violence and fighting crime in Jamaica,” Ms. Grey-Alvaranga noted.

The first of two scheduled panel discussions will be led by Dr. Pinnock. Other panellists include: President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Steven Golding, who is expected to bring a Garveyite perspective to the discussion; noted Anthropologist, Dr. Herbert Gayle; Principal of Tarrant High School, Paul Hall, who will offer practical suggestions on how his school tackled violence; and Deputy Executive Director of the National Integrity Action (NIA), Dr. Patrece Charles.

The focus for this discussion is: ‘Fighting Crime and Violence through Education’.

The next activity will be the concurrent paper sessions. According to Ms. Grey-Alvaranga, an interesting collection of research papers will be presented.

Highlight of these sessions will be a presentation by an 84 year-old artist who has an alternative viewpoint on classroom management.

Two workshops are also scheduled to take place.

The first will target Deans of Discipline, Guidance Counsellors and school administrators.

Participants will be exposed to the Restorative Justice process and skills required in school to facilitate dispute resolution and management.

The second will target teachers and Parent Teachers-Association (PTA) Presidents and will focus on the building of strong ties between the schools and homes to ameliorate the effects of crime and violence.

Ms. Grey-Alvaranga pointed out that pre-registration is required to participate in both workshops. The day will end with another panel discussion looking at ‘Saving At-risk Groups through Education’.

This discussion will be led by Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, Senator the Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr. He is expected to frame the discussion around what the Ministry is doing to combat crime and violence as it relates to education.

He will be joined by Country Manager for IBM Jamaica, Pat Tomlinson, who will focus on cybersecurity; Executive Director of Stand Up for Jamaica, Maria Carla Gullotta; Executive Director of the Violence Prevention Alliance, Dr. Elizabeth Ward; and Senior Lecturer and Head of the ICT Department at Mico, Dr. Junior Martin.

The goals of The Mico University College Research Day 2017 are: to explore creative solutions to reduce crime and violence in Jamaica using the lens of Education; advocate for partnerships from stakeholders in multi-sectors to develop an education based response to crime and violence; and propose further research into the relationship between Education and Violence and Education and Crime in Jamaica.

The activities, which are scheduled to end at 5:00 p.m., are endorsed by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC), the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information; the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.