Wake up Ja - our future is dying!

Dr Mark Nicely, GUEST COLUMNIST

The country recorded 41 students murdered in 2013. Since 2014 has commenced, three students were murdered; two in St Elizabeth and one in St Thomas. Two teachers have also been murdered; one from Mona Heights Primary and one from Dunrobin Primary schools. Similar cases of murder were recorded where a man, in plain view of students, murdered a parent of a child at the Tarrant Primary School, and another incident where a mother and father were murdered leaving eight children as orphans. These gruesome events paint a clear and grim picture of a country's dying future - the children.

Every child killed represents a future adult and a future productive citizen of our country. Every child killed represents an unfulfilled promise and a possibility stifled.

There is the fictitious view that, when an incident occurs at a school, the negative effects are restricted to the immediate school family. The harsh reality is, the school is a microcosm of the society and plays an integral part of the community in which it operates. Hence, it is evident that the community also suffers while it is very traumatic for the school family.

What is equally true is that the negative effect extends to the community and drives fear into the wider society, thus multiplying the negative effects. At the end of a school year, as we assess the output of the education sector, we often forget to factor these very real negative occurrences which retard the teaching-learning process and the mental state of teachers, students, parents, and members of the society. We oftentimes fail to note the far-reaching negative implications which such incidents may have on the school operations. The frequency of violence perpetuated against the nation's children is heart-rending and requires urgent, active, and collective attention from all Jamaicans and members of the diaspora.

be active!

It is for that reason I call on all Jamaicans to wake up and recognise that our future is dying. We can no longer operate with the posture of 'you in your small corner and I in mine'. It cannot be a case of 'you take care of yourself and I will take care of myself'. It has to be that we are our brother's keeper and every child is my own. We have to revisit the days when the village raises the child. Therefore, each child will and should be taken care of by the members within the village, which, in turn, eliminates giving a blind eye to what is happening around.

We cannot sit idly by and allow the blood of our children to flow. Each individual must engage in a process of introspection, and if we find that we are doing nothing to help the situation, then we must do something; and if we are doing something, let us now do more.

process of introspection

We cannot get up each day and say this is a wake-up call; we have had numerous wake-up calls. It is full time that we not only wake up, but stand up and be counted. It cannot be that we are so fast asleep that we cannot hear the universal language of our children crying. Let us commit ourselves to wake up and make a collective push towards saving our future. Our nation's children are bawling out for our help. They are crying out for justice. They are crying out for peace, security and safety. Our children are crying out for care and protection. Our children are crying out for the freedom and the ability to live and not be murdered.

I call on all politicians to wake up because, the truth is, some are sleeping.

I call on all church congregations to wake up because, the truth is, some members are sleeping.

I call on all educators to wake up because, the truth is, some educators are sleeping.

I call on all members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force to wake up because, the truth is, some members of the security forces are sleeping.

I am calling on all citizens: lawyers, doctors, nurses, businessmen and businesswomen, and other professionals to wake up - our future is dying.

Our future depends on our willingness to play our part today, now to rescue our future. Let us not embrace the culture of silence. Let us denounce it and speak out loud and clear and protect and preserve our future - the children.

Enough wake-up calls, enough future plans. We must act now. The time to wake up is now. If we refuse to wake up, we might be the next victim, our child or children may be the next victim(s). Let us act now before it is too late and we cannot wake up again because we are dead.

Dr Mark Nicely is president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association.