BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE incidences of violence in schools have dropped to “almost zero” thanks to the implementation of the MAGIC (Mentoring, Advising, Guiding and Instructing Children) Programme.
This is according to Commissioner of Police Celvin ‘CG’ Walwyn who at the time of comment – was a panellist at the government’s most-recent ‘Conversation for Progress’ town hall meeting held at the St. Peter’s Community Centre last night (Jul. 30).
The programme - adopted from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orlando, Florida – is designed to teach primary school students about issues with which they are likely to face including bullying and drug use. They were also schooled in the conflict resolution and taught the importance of setting goals as a steppingstone to success.
Commissioner Walwyn said 374 students have graduated from the programme and it has made a great difference in tackling the problem of violence in schools with which the Federation struggled.
“We graduated 374 students from MAGIC. We had a problem here in this country with the violence in the schools but we put things in place and it’s almost zero and MAGIC was one of the first things that we put in the schools…
Making reference to an incident which transpired some years ago, the Commissioner reminded that, “We saw something happen… there was a fight at The Square and it extended into school and something happened in that school and we recognised what it was. We got the MAGIC involved, we put the police in the schools and from since that time we have never had an incident.”
Some suggest the level of success which has been realised, is partly owing to the existence of Operation Future programme which has been in schools for the past nine years. The members of that programme take a hands-on approach in instilling specific values in both primary and secondary school students.
The Commissioner said he financially supported the initiative before he became the Commissioner of Police and continues to do so by allowing the officer in charge of the programme, the time he needs to execute the different legs of the programme. “So I fully support Operation Future.”
To further assist in bridging the gap between police officers and the youth, the Commissioner said the TAPS (Teen and Police Service) programme is being introduced in the Federation.
“This government…is about to invest in TAPS. TAPS reduces the gap between the police and the children in the community. As we have said when we first launched MAGIC, every gang member you see out there was once a child in school, and somewhere along the line, they fell between the cracks. The government has spent the money…to ensure that no more children fall between the cracks and we are offering this to all our children and I’m asking you as parents to ensure that once these children get into these programmes, that you encourage them to continue."
