Schools re-opened across Jamaica Monday amid a raft of infrastructural woes, including furniture shortage, inadequate classroom space and leaking roofs that administrators will have to grapple with in the new term.
Most schools opened their doors to the public but some, such as the Mountainside Primary in St. Elizabeth, will remain closed a while longer. School principal Glanville Smalling said the institution had been in a state of disrepair since hurricanes Emily and Dennis scourged the island in June.
“A section of the roof was damaged and whenever it rains some of the classrooms are soaked with water,” Mr. Smalling told The Gleaner. “I don’t think we should allow our children to go back into these classrooms until they are repaired.”
The school reopens September 12, the Jamaica Gleaner reports.
In Westmoreland, parents protested outside the Town Head Primary against the failure of school officials to erect a perimeter fence and effect repairs to sanitary facilities.
Concerns about fencing come on the heels of the rape and murder of two students there whose bodies were found in close proximity to the institution in June. According to the parents, Town Head promised to erect a fence for the start of the new school year. This, however, was not done.
By mid-afternoon yesterday, it was mostly smooth sailing at all the region’s schools as teachers and students settled into their routines.
“There were a few hiccups,” said Vincent Guthrie, director of region four in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture. “We discovered that a few schools had difficulties with utilities, particularly water; some schools are undergoing repairs so there were some inconveniences reported in a number of situations.”
Meanwhile in the Corporate Area, Calabar High was slow out of the blocks. The Red Hills Road school was opened but not fully ready as some facilities, such as the biology lab, were still being repaired. A section of the lawns and the playing field looked like a mini jungle.
When a Gleaner news team visited Kingston schools yesterday, registration was in full gear as hundreds of excited students seemed glad to restore old friendships.
But Norman Malcolm, principal of Windward Road Primary and Junior High, said he was annoyed that the Education Ministry did not live up to its promise of paving the entire school yard. He said it was in a deplorable condition.
Reford Hinds, headmaster of Donald Quarrie High, complained about inadequate space to accommodate the approximately 1,800 students.
Related Videos
