Jamaica News, January 27, 2018
St Catherine, Jamaica (Mckoy’s News) -There was a resumption of classes at the St Jago High School in Spanish Town, St. Catherine this (January 26, 2018) morning after operations were disrupted on Thursday when gunmen and the police traded bullets in the vicinity of the school.
However, student turnout was very low, while 90 percent of academic and support staff were present.
Principal Collette Fertado Pryce stated that apart from some rain, violence was one of the contributing factors for the decline in student attendance. Only about 330 students of the more than 1,700 school population were in attendance Friday morning. Some parents had called the school to say their children will remain at home until Monday.
Thursday’s flare-up in violence was due to the fatal shooting of a man by police on Jones Avenue. That shooting lead to protests in which criminals began to open gunfire.
The police responded and the gunmen ran through the grounds of St. Jago High.
Mrs. Fertado Pryce said when there is an upsurge of violence in Spanish Town, people tend to use the school’s compound as a throughfare, which risks the safety of everyone there.
Contributed by Nichola Panton