JAMAICA Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver has charged that part of the indiscipline challenge being experienced across multiple schools is tied to the fact that school boards comprise political hacks rather than “competent, qualified” individuals.

“Many of our schools lack effective governance at the board level because there is a lack of quality at our school boards. And I am saying this because many of the problems that we are having with the school boards has to do with the political [interference],” Malabver argued during last Thursday’s education meeting organised by the Kiwanis Club of North St Andrew, themed ‘Safer Schools Now: Strategies to Combat Violence in Schools’.

“Members of Parliament are choosing individuals to sit on boards, believe it or not, and some of these board members don’t have qualifications; some of these board members don’t even know what a school looks like. The only thing some of them know about running a school is the fact that they used to run up and down in a school,” Malabver added.