FALLING APART

BUCKETS AND basins have become new and recurring additions to classrooms at the Chetwood Memorial Primary School in Montego Bay, St James, as students and teachers grapple with leaking ceilings on rainy days.

When The Gleaner visited the school on Friday, some classrooms were flooded as rainwater seeped through visible cracks in the walls and ceilings in some classrooms.

A student in one of the grade six classrooms lamented the discomfort of having of having classes under such conditions.

“The water is wetting up my books and I have to move from my seat. I want to see it fixed because it is making me very uncomfortable and I have to buy new books,” the student explained.

Over the summer holidays, repairs were done on the roofs of the buildings after some 15 years of facing the leaking problem. Despite this, as it rained heavily on Friday, some of the same classrooms which had their roofs repaired were again flooded.

Chetwood Primary, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025, only receives $150,000 in a maintenance grant for each academic year. It is designated for work on plumbing, electrical maintenance and other issues.

Principal Gavin Atkinson explained that one section of the main building at the institution is 78 years old and has degraded with age.

“Four classrooms at the top of the building, the main building, are grade six classes; all four classrooms are leaking profusely. Over a period of time, the structure deteriorated. If you notice, overall, we try our best to maintain the building, but you can do so much and no more,” Atkinson told The Gleaner.

While each classroom can hold up to 44 pupils, one room had three students sharing benches made for two persons as they tried to avoid getting wet. Nevertheless, at least one student was left soaked.

As if that were not enough of a burden, grade six teacher Novia Brown-Barrett pointed to a dust nuisance from the ceiling in her classroom.

“The dust from the ceiling can affect the students that are sick with asthma or who have other respiratory illnesses. At times, some of them might have an attack and have to be sent to the nurse,” Brown-Barrett said.

A teacher was seen mopping up water from the floor in one classroom while another noted that students were often forced to use their umbrellas to shield themselves from the leaking ceilings during heavy rainfall.

Last month, Education Minister Fayval Williams said that some $440 million was made available for critical repairs and infrastructural maintenance programme at 125 schools across Jamaica for 2023-2024.

“At the end of the day, we want our educators to be comfortable, and we want our students to be in classrooms that are well-equipped,” Williams told educators at a Jamaica Teachers’ Association conference. “We are not short of monies to do the work. What we need is a more accelerated process. It takes too long for the building officers to go out, come back, and go out again and come back. That is what is holding up the process.”

But Principal Atkinson said that despite the challenges, the teachers will continue their best to keep holding classes.

“Chetwood, it is as if we are the forgotten stepchild on the top of the hill, who continue to perform in spite of the great difficulties that we experience. We will not stop performing because the children are the reason why we come,” he said.

Alluding to the teacher shortage issues gripping some schools, he added: “ ... Teachers don’t only migrate because of money, but because of the working conditions that we have to work under. And then look at our children; they are our most important asset. The environment is not conducive for learning, and yet they are trying. We need assistance.”

ashley.anguin@gleanerjm.com