Education Ministry working to locate students displaced by Hurricane Melissa

 

The Ministry of Education's Region 4 will be seeking to locate students in St. James, Westmoreland and Hanover, who may face difficulty returning to their schools once they reopen.

 

The Ministry has said schools in the western region, which are hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa, will begin welcoming students on Monday, especially those sitting secondary external and Primary Exit Profile examinations.

 

Some of the schools in the three parishes resumed this week. 

 

Many homes are damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes, strong winds. Some roads are still inaccessible or not easily accessible. 

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News at Mount Alvernia High in Montego Bay, St. James on Wednesday, Regional Director of Region 4, Dr. Michelle Pinnock said the stakeholders are in the mode of bouncing back.

 

Dr. Pinnock says every effort will be made to find displaced students to ensure that they are engaged in teaching and learning.

 

"At Mount Alvernia today, we had a total of 144 children of 263. The children that were not there, what's happening is that the persons are going to be really just focusing now on tracking them, finding out where they are and of course making sure that we bring them in. So whatever the issues are, we're going to be finding ways to get them in. They might not be able to come back to this particular school right now because they might be with families in another parish. Our principals association and principals islandwide are working together. So they are being hosted at other high schools. So we just want to really just get our parents to understand and our students to understand that there's no need to worry," she sought to assure.

 

Dr. Pinnock said teachers are being guided on how to operate in this new dispensation.

 

"In terms of the teachers, we're doing training with the teachers to sort out their own personal situation. So we're talking about their own psychosocial and self-mental health. And then we're going to be training our teachers now how to help our students and parents. So we understand that it's a two-fold situation," she explained.

 

The ministry has said with online learning of the table, other methods such as displaced students being hosted safely by other institutions are under review.

 

Education Minister Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon said a number of measures are being discussed to ensure that no child is at a disadvantage due to the hurricane. 

 

Dr. Morris Dixon said the ministry is working with UNICEF to get material to students who lost their books. She said other modalities will be used to make up for the learning loss.

 

"We have to be flexible. We know they're going to be some children who are not going to come at the beginning. But when they do come, when the roads are cleared - and I know NWA is doing everything they can to clear the roads. Once they're cleared and they can come in, we are going to have to do remedial work with them. It means work during the holidays. But we are prepared in the ministry to explore those modalities and also work even with the retired teachers, current teachers, anyone, pay them extra to ensure that these children are not left behind. After COVID, we had significant learning losses and we cannot allow that to happen again after Hurricane Melissa," she stressed.