More than 600 schools damaged by Hurricane Melissa

 

The government is reporting that more than 600 educational institutions sustained damage during the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa. 

 

Education Minister Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon described the initial school repair bill as humongous, noting that the ministry will confirm the figure by next week.

 

"In the affected parishes, we have a little bit over 450 that have been affected and that's across the board, infant schools, primary schools, secondary schools and also eight tertiary schools. So far we've seen estimates of 616 institutions having some kind of damage. Sometimes it's just a leak, sometimes it ranges from a leak to the entire school being destroyed," she explained.

 

Meanwhile, Senator Morris Dixon said the ministry is prioritising students sitting exams.

 

"So while I was in St. Elizabeth, the principals were saying that they are getting schools back. It may take a while to get everybody in, but the priority was for those who are doing PEP and those who are doing [CSEC] and CAPE. The other consideration for us and what we're starting to look at, as we're looking at temporary shelter for people, we're also looking at temporary school structures because we may have to use tents, we may have to get makeshift structures that our students can continue to learn in. So we've started that process," said the minister.

 

She was addressing Thursday's special press briefing focused on recovery from Hurricane Melissa at Jamaica House.