Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams is calling on parents and the wider Jamaican society to instil positive behavioural attitudes in children from a tender age.

Williams, speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (April 23), was reacting to the untimely death of 15-year-old Raniel Plummer, a student of Irwin High School student who was stabbed by another student during an altercation last Thursday.

While offering her condolences to the family of the slain teen, the minister implored that Jamaicans, particularly the youngest in society, need to employ non-violent ways of conflict resolution.

“Madam Speaker, I also want to convey my deepest, deepest sympathies and condolences to the parents of 15-year-old Raniel Plummer who attended Irwin High School and who was fatally stabbed last Thursday. It is devastating for the family, the school community and Jamaica as a whole. When a child kills another child, it should cause us to look within ourselves as parents, as a community, as an education sector and as a society,” Williams said.

“Teaching children appropriate ways to communicate and behave begins very early, even before school attendance. Children must be taught early by parents and other adults to follow rules and structure their lives for positive achievements. They must be taught non-violent ways of solving conflicts and we have several programmes in schools. Restorative justice practices come readily to mind, our parenting programme, guidance counselling, our technical and vocational education programme to allow more hands-on training and skills acquisition,” added the minister.

She further urged students not to normalise acts of violence in schools.