The Ministry of Education is instructing chairmen of school boards, principals and other school administrators to desist from locking students outside of schools as punishment for lateness and breaches to school uniform.

In a bulletin issued yesterday, the ministry says it has received a number of complaints from parents and other stakeholders that school administrators are consistently locking students outside of schools.

This practice, the bulletin notes, deprives students of instructional time and increases the probability of abduction or digression that may result in harm or loss.

It further states that this practice places schools and State in violation of a number of legislative frameworks, including the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (Articles 28 and 29) and the Child Care and Protection Act of Jamaica (Article 28).

School administrators are being reminded that the contravention of these established pillars of child rights will result in appropriate action taken by the ministry.