TOUGH LESSONS

The National Education Trust (NET) is seeking an additional $400 million from Cabinet to complete repairs on seven schools that were severely damaged by Hurricane Beryl almost a year ago, and says it will need a further $2 billion to fortify other schools across the island for the 2025 hurricane season.

None of that money, however, will go towards termite eradication, an issue that has been eating away at the foundations and patience of many of the schools and their administration. According to NET executives, termite treatments are the purview of the maintenance department at the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information. The revelation has left some school administrators deflated.

Hurricane Beryl ripped off the roofs of several classrooms at Top Hill Primary in St Elizabeth. The storm damaged cabinets and equipment in the school’s canteen and drenched books in its library, reducing it to a storeroom. Yet, principal Cavene Headlam said it left the one building on the school compound she wished it had taken out of its misery.

Last Wednesday, amid shiny new roofs, firmly affixed with hurricane straps, new books and fresh furniture provided to the school, the building in question, believed to be more than 150 years old as per vintage records, some of which were destroyed in the storm last year, stood out like a sore thumb. It houses two classrooms for older students, but it is suffering a slow death – its walls inching away daily due to the unrelenting insects.

“That is my biggest problem right now. This is the building I wish Beryl had gone with,” said Headlam with a chuckle, even as she noted that the termite infestation there was no laughing matter. “You sweep up in the evenings, and when you come in the mornings, you wouldn’t believe the amount of dust on the floor because of them,” she charged, poking a section of the building with a pen. The wood flaked, crumbled, and fell in chunks.

“We really need to get rid of it. The students really deserve something better,” she said, pointing to termite-carved holes in the exterior of the structure. It’s not the only building with the problem, but it was certainly the worst affected, she was quick to point out.

FOCUS

Latoya Harris-Ghartey, chief executive officer at the NET, explained that only seven of the schools deemed top priority following Hurricane Beryl remain incomplete and, for most of them, there is less than 30 per cent of repair work left to be done. The focus is on hurricane resilience, not termite control as far as NET is concerned, she affirmed, though some administrators at Bull Savannah Primary, also in St Elizabeth, for example, believe both go hand in hand.

“For the seven outstanding projects that we would have started already, we are seeking $400 million to complete those. For the rest of the system, to ensure that since we are approaching the hurricane season, the ones that were identified with minor damage ... we are seeking additional funding to enhance their safety,” she explained, noting that the $2 billion will be spent on schools designated priority two and three. She said she is confident the funds will be allocated before the hurricane season, which started on June 1, picks up later on in the year.

Concerning the termite infestation problem, Harris-Ghartey left that to the Ministry of Education. She said NET’s priority “is on the build-out side of life”, noting that there were 112 priority one schools, and that work has stalled in some instances, primarily due to contractor tardiness. At least one contractor’s contract was terminated.

UNANSWERED QUERIES

The Gleaner approached Minister of Education Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, and Permanent Secretary Dr Kasan Troupe for comments on the matters of hurricane preparedness and termite infestation at public schools. However, the queries went unanswered.

In the meantime, the newspaper has been informed by both Harris-Ghartey and the ministry’s communication team that schools have been in dialogue with entities such as the Jamaica Public Service as part of their hurricane preparedness; and that a committee has been set up to deal with school maintenance and, in particular, the termite problem at schools.

“One of the recommendations is to stockpile some tents that can be rolled out to schools in the event of an emergency,” offered Harris-Ghartey.

Almost a year after Hurricane Beryl, and Bull Savannah Primary, one of the worst-affected institutions in St Elizabeth, still resembles a disorganised scrap yard. Principal Collin Cameron is quick to testify that it was only through the will of God that he and the staff were able to prepare students for the last Primary Exit Profile examinations.

Still, he continues to occupy a basic school and a church on the school compound to house classes, while a building that served as the classroom for grades five and six is still under repair. The construction is creeping along, cordoned off with zinc for the students’ protection. There have been several reasons for its delay, including issues with the contractor, the weather, and the overall impact on the students during work time.

However there is another factor – termites – which workmen reportedly underestimated at the start of the project. Having removed all the termite-weakened support for the roof, it has been a long, painful task to complete the work. Currently, only half of the roof on that building has been fully restored, and Cameron is fearful of starting all over again if another hurricane hits.

Like in many rural schools, that building also doubled as a community meeting and events location.

“I am worried,” Cameron responded bluntly to questions about his school’s hurricane preparedness. “I just would like this building finished and closed up so that the work that has been done before is not destroyed and send us back to square one. We have had a difficult year, and the conditions under which we worked this year, both teachers and students, were very rough. And it is like the nightmare started already because we are back in another season.”

NET has provided building material and has replaced furniture, while the school has restocked some books that were damaged in the storm. Some physical and digital school records were permanently damaged by rainfall as both documents and computers were destroyed in the storm, Cameron noted, adding that some computers have been replaced. But there is nowhere to put the new items, he complained.

“I don’t have an office, the office block went down, like the guidance counsellor’s office, and so on. Our canteen blew down. We have been utilising the church, the infant school, and so it is very difficult when it comes to the whole record keeping of things,” he noted, adding that the classrooms remain clustered with more students than preferred.

While termites continue to plague New Forest High School in Mandeville, administrators there said the institution continues to take a hit from the destruction of its greenhouse and goat pen, which not only supplied the school’s canteen with food, but also generated much-needed income for the school, which has been juggling its financial obligations following the storm.

Before Hurricane Beryl, the school generated some $300,000 in revenue each week from agricultural sales. However, that lifeline has been snatched, noted vice-principal Owen Lyle, and agricultural teacher Lawson Williams. The greenhouse was designed to introduce students to more technological farming techniques, but with it completely destroyed, the agricultural programme has suffered dearly, they said. Last week, one of the school’s solar panels that was dislodged from the roof by Beryl, leaned outside the principal’s office.

Weeks after Hurricane Beryl, the Government estimated that it would cost more than $3 billion to fund repairs to 362 public schools that were damaged. Schools were categorised into three priority groups: severely damaged, moderately damaged and those that sustained minor damage.

Some 107 schools were classified as severely damaged – category/priority one – with roofs, ceilings, windows and doors, retaining walls and perimeter fencing, furniture, learning resources, and electrical equipment being destroyed. A total of 139 schools were listed as moderately damaged (category/priority two), while 116 schools were described as having minor damage (category/priority three).

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com