By Kimone Witter
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Marlon Morgan, says all public schools will reopen for the start of the new academic year that officially gets under way on September 7.
The ministry has said for those schools that are still being repaired or reconstructed, alternative arrangements will be implemented, including rotating students on alternate days.
Speaking Tuesday on TVJ’s Smile Jamaica, Mr. Morgan sought to reassure teachers, students and parents at the affected schools that they will not be navigating this period of restoration alone.
“This past academic year has been particularly tough and trying not least on our parents, students themselves and even more so our teachers. As a ministry, we have a contract with a raft of clinicians, persons who have the skill sets to deliver psychosocial support, and those services come at no cost to the sector. So we know that a number of teachers may feel despondent and anxiety will be pervading the space right now. But I just want to, as Parliamentary Secretary, and on behalf of my colleagues at the ministry, to assure our partners in education, our stakeholders that we are working assiduously with them, we are there for them, and that is why we have been in the field over the past four weeks to let them know that listen, you are not standing alone,” he declared.
Mr. Morgan said a total of 309 schools suffered severe damage during the passage of Hurricane Melissa, while 377 had major or minor damage.
The majority are in western Jamaica.
In the meantime, work at some 43 schools considered Priority 1 – that were severely damaged – has been completed.
Mr. Morgan said another 25 schools that were damaged are slated for completion by September 7.
“And there are some 277 of the schools that will be having to utilise some form of mixed modality of learning… which includes some Priority 1 and perhaps some Priority 2 and 3 schools as well. There are 277 of them that will have to be utilising and resorting to mixed modalities. And by that we mean they may have an extended school day, they may have to resort to and rely on learning kits, they may have to rotate students like have one set of grades coming in on a Monday, another set come in on a Tuesday, then you know, they come in on different days to kind of ensure that there is some face to face engagement,” he disclosed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Morgan revealed that a shortage of skilled workers is contributing to the slow pace of restoration at some schools.
“So Jamaica is really at technically full employment and there are challenges on the part of some contractors in respect of accessing labourers, but even more so skilled workers because as we effect repairs to school plants, you can appreciate that the roofing work that is to be done, you need the carpentry skill set, electrical installation skill set and other key, you know, technical work to get our school plants back up. But what we are heartened about, though, as a ministry, is that by virtue of the specifications that we have given to the contractors and the system in general, our contractors will ultimately be held to delivering schools that are more fit for purpose,” he stressed.
He said the conflict in the Middle East has also delayed the arrival of materials used in the creation of metal louvre blades to be installed at schools.