The Ministry of Education has ordered 135 metal detectors to ensure high and secondary schools have them in place for the new school year.

This was disclosed by director of safety and security in schools at the ministry, Sergeant Coolridge Minto, in an interview with JIS on Wednesday.

"Some schools already have, and what we did in May of this year was to do an audit of the metal detectors," Sergeant Minto said.

He said the use of metal detectors within the secondary-school system was not new. Detectors were issued to schools in 2008.

"Some of them became defective over time and so we are replacing the metal detectors that are either damaged or are no longer working," the director explained.

In July, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites, told the House of Representatives the ministry was in the process of procuring metal detectors.

He said there has been a steady decline of violence and critical incidents in schools for the last three years.

Data collected by the Community Safety and Security Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force indicate that robberies dropped by 83 per cent; thefts, 60 per cent; wounding, 52 per cent; fights, 14 per cent; fatal stabbings, six per cent. There was a 17 per cent decline in weapons found in school.

In terms of weapons seized, the total number has declined by more than two-thirds over the three-year period, from 1,670 weapons in 2012 to 495 in 2014.