The Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) says that there could be major delays to the opening of the new school year in September due to the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl to schools across the country.
The Ministry of Education has reported that the damages to school is in the region of a billion dollars based on early assessments.
JTA President Leighton Johnson recommended that the Ministry establish a special fund to deal with natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and floods, as well as fires that may damage or destroy school infrastructure.
“The damages done to several schools were extensive and will require significant amounts of money to effect repairs. We are urging the Ministry of Education to expedite the process of assessing the damage done to these institutions, to ascertain the true cost of repairs. The summer holidays presents a very small window for these repairs to be affected,” he noted.
The JTA president also urged the government to consider insuring schools against disasters – a move he believes will improve the sector’s resilience.
In the meantime, Mr. Johnson has proposed that the Education Ministry fast-track the awarding of low-level contracts to commence the repairs to the affected schools, especially early childhood institutions.
He said immediate and urgent attention must be placed on primary and infant schools that were damaged, since these institutions receive “minimal amounts of monies from the Ministry of Education each year for maintenance purposes” and administrators will undergo immense pressure to effect the necessary repairs in time.
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