NPTAJ worried about wellbeing of students from schools being used as shelters

 

The National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) is raising alarm about the wellbeing of students at schools that are still accommodating people displaced by Hurricane Melissa.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Tuesday, NPTAJ President Stewart Jacobs warned that the continued use of school compounds as shelters could pose safety concerns and interfere with normal classroom activities.

 

Mr. Jacobs is urging the authorities to move swiftly to relocate displaced families so that schools can return fully to their primary role.

 

"One of the concerns is the bathroom facilities where, during the day the students use the bathroom that the shelterees would have used the night before - although it's cleaned - but there is that health concern, that health issue. Then although there isn't any reports of encroachment, but on the very same premises that you have shelterees during the day being sheltered - and this is their place of abode now, temporary place of abode - on the adjacent building, there are classes going on. That is never a very safe environment. There is a reason from the beginning why schools and classrooms are isolated, as they are fortified from the general public," he pointed out.

 

At the same time, the NPTAJ president said he is encouraged by efforts being made at the school level to ensure that students preparing for external examinations are given priority during this period.

 

"What I do like about it is that the cohort that will be doing the external exams, that's grade 10 to 13, they are in school five days for the week, while from the grade 7 to 9, they are doing four and three days per week to allow for the space to be utilised by those doing external exams," he noted, adding that the host-school system appears to be working.