Recurrent violence in east Kingston caused the number of students registering for this academic year at the Elletson Primary and Infant School to dwindle significantly.
While unable to give the number of new students enrolled at the institution this year, Halette Smith, acting principal, said, “Only a few were registered because people are still afraid.”
In March, violence flared up in the area, resulting in six people being shot to death in one day on Bryden Street. The violence caused many residents to flee the community, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.
This resulted in low attendance at the school and students who were scheduled to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test had to be transferred to the Jessie Ripoll Primary School on South Camp Road where they sat the examination. Then principal, Michael Brown, reported that only 85 per cent of the students sat the exam.
Ms. Smith also noted that a number of students who were enrolled did not turn up for school yesterday morning, as their parents started to withdraw them from the school since the upsurge in violence in March.
Meanwhile, schoolers were forced to cram into classrooms yesterday, because a section of the institution was still being repaired. When our news team visited the school, pupils were seen huddled around benches seemingly very uncomfortable in the hot classrooms.
Ms. Smith said that the repair work, which was being carried out by the Office of National Reconstruction, began late, but she was assured that the building would be completed by tomorrow.
Schoolteacher, Malachi Brown, said the situation was “inconvenient … but we are trying our best to see how best we can deal with it.”
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