Fresh concerns are being raised over the increasing incidents of school violence, including student-on-student conflict and assaults on teachers, with Dr Darien Henry, the principal of the Montego Bay Community College (MBCC), saying they must be denounced and Jamaica's youth must be rescued from the brutality.

Speaking at Friday's launch of the Spot Valley High School's Police Youth Club in St James, Henry pointed to last Wednesday's reports of multiple fights among students at the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) as an indicator that too many young people are normalising anger and violence as an appropriate response to conflict.

"Yesterday (Thursday), I was discombobulated by what happened in one of our senior high schools, where the school had to be locked down because the young people were let loose upon themselves. What is happening to our young people? What is happening? There is no respect for authority in schools any more," he said.