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Stewart Jacobs, President of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ)
By Nakinskie Robinson
President of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), Stewart Jacobs, is urging parents to make the necessary monetary contributions to schools as some institutions have been grappling with the impacts of Hurricane Beryl.
Sections of Manning's School in Westmoreland, Hampton High School and Munro College in St. Elizabeth as well as Westwood High School in Trelawny were damaged when Beryl made landfall last Wednesday.
The damage to the schools is expected to delay reopening in September.
Mr. Jacobs, who lamented the situation, argued that the allocations provided by the Education Ministry are already not enough and that the contributions from parents and guardians are critical to the development of several institutions.
He said parents should try to support institutions during what is anticipated to be an active hurricane season.
"I'm appealing to the parents to make extra effort this school year to make your contribution to your school, because we are going to have a very busy hurricane season and at the same time we do not want to disrupt the education process for our children. And therefore contributing financial contribution to your school is going to play its part to ensure that this is done," he said, warning that the policy of no school fees "has not worked [and] will never work".
Mr. Jacobs has also called for all schools to have storm-proof roofing.
"When schools are being designed now, they ought to be designed to be hurricane resistant. And schools that are now established, there should be a concerted effort to look at remodelling the roofs and the structure of these buildings over time, because global warming is real. Global warming will affect the education process. It has started, it is quite obvious. And so it means that everyone has to be a part of protecting the environment and contributing [in] a deliberate way to your school," he reasoned.
Mr. Jacobs was a guest on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM.
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