Education Ministry inspecting school buildings following earthquake

 

A team from the Ministry of Education is to conduct an assessment of school buildings following Monday's earthquake.

 

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Dr. Kasan Troupe says there was damage to some structures as a result of the quake. 

 

"Some schools had cracks in their buildings and so forth. So we have our regional building officers out there doing the assessment to see how we can respond financially to assist our schools to get back on track."

 

She said psychological support is also being offered to students traumatised after the quake. 

 

"We had some students who had panic attacks, asthma attacks...and our medical services, we got support in response to that. But going forward, we still have to treat with that. So our guidance, our health and family life educators, our chaplains and pastors assigned to schools and also other external clinicians, they'll be working to address those issues as reported by our principals. So we rely on our principals today to get a more fulsome update as to what's happening on the ground." 

 

Dr. Troupe was a guest Tuesday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM.

 

                                                                                   

In the aftermath of Monday morning's tremor, the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students (JUTS) has called on all post secondary institutions to provide psychological support services for their students.

 

"We saw a release where they were saying that we should look out for, you know, occurrences or signs of PTSD and just trauma from the natural disaster that would have happened yesterday. And I'm also very imploring all presidents through their different institutions to ensure that students are getting the help that they need when it comes on to trauma counselling," said JUTS President Deshawn Cooke. 

 

The JUTS president, who was speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Tuesday morning, said two major local universities, the University of the West Indies and University of Technology, have started providing counselling services to students struggling with shock and trauma from the quake.