Crawford says most schools will not be ready for September

WESTERN BUREAU:

Senator Damion Crawford, the opposition spokesperson on education, training and competitiveness, is claiming that most of the nation’s public schools will not be ready for the new school year, due to inadequate water supply, furniture and textbook rentals.

“The vast majority of schools will not be ready to perform; they will not be ready to perform because they still don’t have enough chairs and tables,” said Crawford, in an interview with The Gleaner following Sunday’s Peoples National Party (PNP) Westmoreland Central constituency conference.

The 2024-2025 school year, which is slated to commence September 2, is expected to face numerous challenges, especially in the parishes that took a battering from Hurricane Beryl, which impacted the island on July 3.

Based on the Government’s estimate, the hurricane, which caused significant infrastructural and agriculture damage running into billions of dollars, decimated some 309 primary and secondary schools, causing damage valued over J$2.7 billion.

“They still don’t have the necessary water and electricity, and a lot of the rental books have not been provided,” said Crawford, in speaking to the lack of readiness plaguing many schools.

HOLDING CENTRES

According to Crawford, who is a lecturer at The University of the West Indies, Mona, many public schools are currently not equipped with whiteboards and the requisite infrastructure to promote learning and, as such, are no more than holding centres for children.

“If we believe that it is for our children’s encouragement, development and education, then we still need to be speaking about the readiness to perform and therefore the lack of furniture, books and the lack of subventions increase,” said Crawford.

While the Government provides high schools with subvention to the value of $17,000 per student on a yearly basis, Crawford thinks it is woefully inadequate, and has outlived its usefulness in terms of meeting the needs of the schools.

“If you look at that over 10 months, that’s $1,700 for each month ... that’s about $85.00 per day. There is absolutely no way that that can carry the school forward, so there are many other conversations that we need to have about the functioning of our schools and their readiness to function,” argued Crawford.

Since the passage of Hurricane Beryl, the Government has embarked on major rehabilitation works at some 45 severely damaged schools. The schools have been designated as priority one by the Ministry of Education. The list includes Spot Valley High in St James; Titchfield High in Portland; St Hilda’s Diocesan High in St Ann; Westwood High in Trelawny; and the Bethlehem Primary and Infant in St Elizabeth.

The scope of the repairs includes re-sheeting and replacing roofs, repairing blocks and security fences, conducting electrical repairs, and replacing guttering and water systems.

editorial@gleanerjm.com