Progress at Pratville Primary
Beryl damage repairs almost complete, but students still housed at separate locations
Published:Monday | December 2, 2024 | 12:07 AMErica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Writer
Work is well advanced to restore Pratville Primary School in Manchester for the resumption of on-site classes in January 2025. The school was severely damaged by Hurricane Beryl in July, forcing students and teachers to relocate to temporary facilities.
During a visit last week, work on one school block was nearing completion, but progress was delayed due to a mistake in the roof’s paint colour.
Painter Michael Alexander explained: “Someone made an error with the colour paint for the roof. As you can see, it is painted grey. When the principal came and examined it, they said the classrooms were too dark, so it is being repainted in white. If that wasn’t the case, I would have been finished already,” he told The Gleaner, adding that he would be finishing the repainting within a day.
Tanks dislodged during the hurricane have been reinstated, and repairs to sections of the roof connecting the blocks are complete.
During The Gleaner’s visit, a truck arrived with materials to install a new roof for an upper-deck block housing at least three classrooms. Despite no immediate visible damage after the hurricane, the entire roof had been removed and was being replaced. Workmen on-site declined to comment.
Clive Richards and Leanne Cover-Richards, a Hawaii-based couple dedicated to raising awareness and funds for schools and other causes, were also at the location.
“My husband is from this area and so we came to see what we can do to raise awareness and see if we can get donations for the school. We went to the church and had a conversation with the vice-principal. ... We are gonna go back and try to have a meeting with parents and families, and ask for money to get the things they need done,” Cover-Richards told The Gleaner.
“In Hawaii, we focus on the elderly and the kids. What I have learnt in Hawaii is the true meaning of taking care of our children and elders. If you don’t, what kind of society are you? And it hurts to come back and see Pratville Primary School and the condition it is in, and what it is taking for us to respond. There is no excuse for it,” Clive expressed in disappointment.
Currently, students and teachers are spread across two temporary locations. Infant and grade one students are accommodated at the Assembly of God Church in Asia, where classes operate in the church hall. Teachers dismiss classes early on Fridays to remove blackboard partitions and other materials for church preparations – a process that has left at least one teacher requiring medical care for back pain.
The teachers, however, are making the best of the situation, ensuring that lessons were being delivered.
Grades two to six are housed at the Asia Seventh-Day Adventist Church, where the challenges are evident. Office space doubles as a staff room, with offering bags and school equipment crammed together.
The churchyard buzzes with activity as girls, donning their blue tunic with their well-combed hair, and neatly trimmed boys in navy blue and khaki trousers chatted excitedly.
A class of about 20 students gathered with their teacher under a large almond tree.
Another teacher, teaching grade two students about rules, delivered her lesson on the church steps, with children fidgeting, giggling, and sucking their fingers.
Inside the hall, however, the heat and overlapping noise of multiple classes make concentration difficult.
Vice-principal Norda Shaw said they were hoping they would have returned to the school compound by now. She expressed disappointment that a leaking problem on the upper deck has still not been addressed.
“We were so hoping that it could have been finished so we could have gone back in November. But as it is, it will not be possible for this term, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will definitely be completed for January. It’s just not convenient here, but we are grateful that we have a space,” she told The Gleaner.
Shaw also explained logistical hurdles in providing lunch for students after meals are prepared at the church’s canteen.
“Lunch is transported to the children. Occasionally, we use a taxi, but other times, it’s the teachers. ... The distance for some children to school is around five miles. Many walk [to their homes] in the afternoons if there is no rain, but sometimes they will get a lift. But when it rains, very few [students] come to school,” she explained.