Rhoda Crawford salutes western teachers

WESTERN BUREAU:

Educators in western Jamaica are being hailed for their courage as defenders of the nation’s children in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, as their determination to keep students learning never faltered.

Reflecting on her first field visit to the region following the devastating hurricane, Juneio Education Minister Rhoda Crawford said she encountered damaged schools and shattered communities, but also principals and teachers who had transformed themselves into counsellors, relief workers, and community leaders.

“A whole hurricane does not knock lightly at a school gate. It enters the classroom, it tears at roofs, scatters resources, severs connectivity, and unsettles the emotional foundation upon which teaching and learning depend,” Crawford told educators during the recent Region Four principals’ conference in Montego Bay.

“But there is something a storm cannot measure on any meteorological scale. There is that of a principal who refuses to let destruction have the final say,” she added.

At Belmont Academy in Westmoreland, Crawford said she encountered teachers, students and community members sheltering at the school in the aftermath of the storm.

“Despite what was happening around them, they were so hopeful, so energetic,” she recalled.

At New Hope Primary School, also in Westmoreland, she said the principal and her team were already in the community checking on students and identifying families in need before the ministry arrived with care packages.

“The principal was able to tell us which community, which parent needed the bags [care packages].And even before we came with our own bags, the principal and her team would have already been in the field visiting her students and doing what they could,” she said.

Crawford said the response she saw demonstrated why the education system continued functioning despite the unprecedented disruption.

“A large bulk of the work is carried by you on the ground, the regional director, the principals, the education officers, the teachers,” she told the conference, noting that 99 per cent of schools across Hanover, St James and Westmoreland were damaged by the hurricane, with Westmoreland and St James being the hardest hit.

Yet, amid that destruction, students continued to produce strong academic results, as at the primary school level, Region Four met the 70 per cent target in three of four areas – language arts, 71.6 per cent; literacy, 77.9 per cent; and numeracy, 74.5 per cent. Mathematics was 68.4 per cent. At the secondary level, the overall Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) pass rate increased from 72.1 per cent in 2025 to 79.1 per cent in 2026.

Crawford also highlighted strong mathematics gains at several schools, including Mount Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, which recorded a 95 per cent overall CSEC pass rate and 100 per cent in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations, despite significant hurricane damage.

“We are not content merely to return to where we were. We are resolved to emerge stronger and better prepared for the future,” Crawford said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com