The Na­tion­al Par­ent Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (NPTA) says while it sup­ports the Gov­ern­ment’s plan to place po­lice of­fi­cers in high-risk schools from Sep­tem­ber as a way to curb vi­o­lence and delin­quen­cy among stu­dents, deep­er and more sus­tain­able strate­gies must be part of the so­lu­tion.

In an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia, NPTA pres­i­dent Wal­ter Stew­art de­scribed the move as a nec­es­sary short-term re­sponse to re­store or­der but warned that it was not a cure.

“The de­ploy­ment of po­lice of­fi­cers in schools is ‘putting plas­ter on the sore’ which may cov­er or sup­press the prob­lem, but cer­tain­ly will not heal the sit­u­a­tion,” Stew­art said.