Thousands Of Youths in Restorative Justice Programme

Over 3,000 participants, including teachers, students and parents are benefiting from conflict resolution sessions sponsored by the Ministry of Education and Youth, and the Ministry of Justice.

According to Coordinator for the National Restorative Justice Programme Andriene Lindsay, 3,120 persons are involved in the programme from 78 high schools and 26 primary schools. This was made possible through a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two ministries, to use restorative justice to curb conflicts between students in schools.

She said two units, the Restorative Justice Unit in the Ministry of Justice and the Education Ministry’s Safety and Security in Schools Unit, have a longstanding working relationship. There is “joint interest” with respect to training, research, transfer, and dissemination of knowledge, “preventing and reducing conflict in educational institutions [from] translating to our homes and our communities at large,” she stated at the recent signing of the MoU at the Education Ministry, Heroes Circle, Kingston.

The Coordinator added that the ministries are combining efforts to promote best practices in conflict resolution and enhancing community cohesion. Restorative justice training equips staff with conflict reduction skills, and it is a set of principles, “working from a preventative perspective” which she said repairs and builds trusting and respectful relationships between individuals and in communities.

“Evidence demonstrates that continued use of restorative approaches assists not only with resolving conflicts as they occur, but serves to boost participants’ morale, develop a shared understanding between individuals and cultivate a culture of positivity and team spirit,” she said.

Miss Lindsay said an important dimension in the programme is the inclusion of school administrators and parents with the students, as it ensures that the practices learned in training will continue in the home and across communities.

Director for Safety and Security in Schools Richard Troupe, said a monitoring and evaluation tool has been developed to assess regularly how the training is being used and how children and schools are being impacted.

“We have an excellent MoU to guide the process, and we will be tracking the impact of the training for the restorative justice programme,” he said.

Restorative Justice is a procedure which brings all the parties with a stake in a particular incident together, to resolve the conflict and deal with the aftermath.