Schools on South Camp Road in Kingston sent home students yesterday – the first day of the Easter term – because of heavy dust and a lack of water due to construction work for the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Alpha High, Infant and Primary schools, as well as Holy Trinity High were the worst affected.

Principal of Alpha Primary, Phyllis Anderson, told the Observer that since the road work started last term, the students were being severely affected by the dust from drilling being done by workmen using heavy equipment along the sidewalk at the entrance to the school.

“The dust is damaging to their health, and at times it is unbearable,” Anderson said, adding that several open trenches along the sidewalks were also posing a danger to the students.

“The children have nowhere to walk on the road, and sometimes you let them out and they come back in saying they have nowhere to walk and we have to actually go out there and help them to get by,” she said.

A security guard at Alpha claimed that the dust had forced the school to take some children to hospital. “The dust is a killer around here and it is killing off the children, especially the ones with asthma who every minute the school nurse has to be rushing them to the doctor,” he said. “Because of how bad the dust is, children have to be rushed daily to the hospital, all sometimes three for one day.”

A fifth form Alpha High student told the Observer the dust was unbearable and constantly affected them. In addition, she said the loud noise from the heavy machinery prevents them from hearing or concentrating in class.

“In December, when I had exams here, the noise was so much it affected my migraine and I just could not concentrate on what I was doing,” she said.

The fifth form block, which is closest to the school’s South Camp Road entrance, is said to be most affected by the noise and dust.

A student at Kingston College said his school, too, was being severely affected by the construction as large sections of the sidewalks have been converted into open trenches. “It is real bad, because if you walk on South Camp Road you have to deal with all that dust and open trenches, and if you walk on North Street there is a lot of dirty water running on the road,” he said.

Yesterday, the schools had no water as the main was damaged during construction work last weekend, forcing the National Water Commission (NWC) to turn off the supply.

But both the Elletson Road and North Street campuses of Kingston College had no water last week, and the supply only returned in a trickle yesterday, two students told the Observer.

Alpha Primary’s Anderson said that although the school has been dealing with the dust problem since last term, the institution was unable to have classes yesterday because the water was turned off. Until the school receives water, the principal said, Alpha won’t be able to accommodate the 1,200 students enrolled.

She said that yesterday, they went out to get storage tanks as the NWC had promised that water would be trucked to the school. However, up to late evening, the school had still not received any water.

“With over 1,200 students here, there is no way we could keep school without any water, and right now if we don’t get water by tomorrow (today) we still cannot have any classes,” she explained.

But Patricia Prince, public relations officer at the NWC, said all the schools which were affected by the water lock-off should start receiving service as of today, as the broken main was expected to be repaired overnight.

“All the schools within that vicinity, as well as all businesses along the entire stretch are without water, and we have been told that the problem will be corrected tonight,” she said yesterday.

Prince, though, said she was not aware of any promise to truck water to Alpha.

As of today, students at Alpha Infant, Primary and High schools will be required to use the pedestrian entrance on Elletson Road, as the main gate on South Camp Road will be officially closed until the road work is done.

Yesterday, Stephen Shaw, communications manager at National Works Agency, said the road work was not expected to be completed until the end of the first quarter of this year.