Denham Town student glad for chance to study

Eleven-year-old Janeel Whyte, a student of Denham Town Primary School in west Kingston, was forced to live in fear when men with barking guns last May engaged members of the security forces in his community during a deadly clash.

The exchanges not only left more than 70 persons dead, but it also left persons like Janeel traumatised.

As the country celebrates Peace Day today, the young boy says he is happy the guns have gone silent and peace is reigning supreme in his community.

The student said he is now free to walk around his community, but the best thing of all he is now able to study his books after school without any form of disturbance.

"I couldn't study because of the gunshots and I was worried about the happenings. I couldn't study hard because even when the noise cool down after the war, I was always too traumatised to study," he said.

"I can now play in my community freely with my friends for long hours without fearing that something would happen to us," the student added.

Whyte is one of several inner-city students who have been affected by violence and are now enjoying the luxury of peace in their communities.

Guidance Counsellor Royton McLaurin said the school has worked hard to help students living in volatile communities to integrate in the school system with the determination to learn.

"We have a psychologist that come in to work with some of the children from time to time. We have a group from the Ministry of Education called SISTRIN and we have members from the group Deacons for Peace and Achieve-ments who come here every Wednesday to talk to the students, so we have a full package here to address the problems some students may be facing," he said.

School improving

McLaurin said the students are doing well and the school is seeing an improvement in the overall performance.

At the nearby Charlie Smith High in Trench Town, Vice-principal Errol Smikle said students at the school are doing well in spite of un-welcomed distractions.

"This is an inner-city school and violence tends to be the norm at times, but we are really trying to show the kids a better way of communicating with each other and we are seeing improvements," he said.

"We have seen an improvement in the students performances, we got some help from outside the communities which adds up and we are also more involved in sporting activities so the students are more involved at school," he added.

- Nadisha Hunter