AN INQUIRY INTO THE PERCEIVED EFFECTS OF COMMUNITY AND FAMILY VIOLENCE ON THE ACADEMIC FUNCTIONING AMONGST A GROUP OF GRADE FOUR STUDENTS AT A SCHOOL IN A VIOLENT PRONE COMMUNITY IN SPANISH TOWN, ST. CATHERINE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Children living in violent communities across the length and breadth of Jamaica are particularly vulnerable to anti-social and criminal behaviours. Chuck (1986) in his contribution on violence asserted that the present reality of violence has become the heaven for a wide range of emotional feelings ranging from discouragement, desperation, fear, anger and depression which is not confined to any particular class or groups.  
AIM: Therefore this study will concentrate on finding out how children who have experienced violence actually perform academically. The participants will be drawn from among the grades 4 classes in a Jamaican primary school in an urban area. It is hope that this study will provide some insight for school administrators and stakeholders of the various strategies to which they can employ in correcting violence at school and changing the low academic performance of children who are exposed to violence in their communities.  
METHOD: The data were analyzed using themes and narrations, and they were presented in figures and tables as well as narratives of the participants.  
RESULTS: All the participants of the study stated that community violence range from the involvement of police officers and gang members, gang members and innocent community members, and internal as well as external gang violence. Lionel (pseudo name) witnessed a brutal gang murder. “One day I was babysitting and saw five men, tie a rope around and throw a big stone on the man’s head†Lionel said. The majority of the sampled participants used words like sadden (81.8%, n=9), numb/confused (63.6%, n= 7) and afraid (63.6%, n=7) to express how they feel following witnessing a violent act in their community. One participants stated that she felt suicidal (9.1%) and another indicated that he could not sleep (9.1%). A male-participant stated that “I peed myself.
CONCLUSION: A school with a robust process in place that routinely monitors students’ behavior, consistently enforce the school’s policies and regularly communicate the expectations to staff, students and parents can dramatically improve the quality of their school climate.