Education and Youth Minister, Fayval Williams says contractors are working overtime but has warned that classrooms at some schools severely damaged by Hurricane Beryl may not be ready by the start of the new academic year next week.
Williams said contingency plans have been crafted to address such situations.
The category four weather system resulted in varying levels of damages to 362 of the 1,009 public schools locally.
The ministry has focused its rehabilitation efforts on those schools which were severely damaged, and have been categorised in the Priority One group.
“The primary damage to the priority one schools was to roof and ceilings, windows and doors. There was some electrical damage…, and (at) some schools, we had to replace electrical poles,” Williams outlined during Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing.
She said there were also damages to perimetre fencing and retaining walls, water tanks, furniture, and learning resources at such schools.
Williams went on to laud the work being done by the 45 different contractors on the 107 severely damaged schools locally, and all the other stakeholders involved in the process.
“There are schools in the priority one (category), in which we know, standing here today, they will not be quite ready. All the classrooms will not be quite ready (as well),” she declared.
“And for those, we have contingency plans. So, for example, (if) we know work at a particular school is going to extend for a week, we’re making arrangements to have a tent.
“In other areas at other schools, we’re using a church hall or building that’s close by, just to give us that time to get the school completely ready,” Williams explained.
She pleaded with stakeholders to be understanding in that regard.
Of the 107 schools listed as priority one, administrators at Munroe College in St Elizabeth have publicly indicated that the school will not complete their repairs for Monday’s start to the new academic year.
Williams did not state other such school administrators who are in similar positions.
But Williams said for those specific schools categorised as severely damaged, those principals were given the directive by the ministry to “look at your context and determine how children come back to school”.
Meanwhile, the minister said she does not anticipate that there will be much delays to the new school year, given the level of work that is being done.
“We meet more than once per week, and we go through every single school in detail so we understand where every school is.
“We understand which schools are very comfortable that they will be opened, and which schools are saying give us a day or two and so on,” Williams stated.
Continuing, she said: “But I know that the contractors are out there, and they are pushing, (because) they know the September 2 deadline.”
According to the minister, some of the contractors have even been working double shifts and weekends to get the necessary work on the schools completed.
“For September 2, will the schools be at a100 per cent? Maybe not. But they (the contractors) are saying, what’s left to be done, will not impact the opening of schools,” Williams assured
