THE first day of the new academic year yesterday got off to a fairly smooth start for the most part, with less than 10 of the 1,100 schools failing to open, while last-minute repairs were effected to structures damaged during last month’s passage of Hurricane Dean.

While there were a few issues of overcrowding and misunderstanding surrounding the abolition of school fees, officials reported that it was one of the smoothest school re-openings experienced in a while.

“We had a relatively good start under the circumstances, with schools re-opening after the passage of a hurricane,” said president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Ena Barclay.

At the same time, Jasper Lawrence, chief education officer, said there were no surprises with the start of the new school year.

“All the schools we expected to start full operation did, and those we expected partial operation did,”he said.

Lawrence said he was yet to get any significant reports about confusion with the payment of school fees or with lack of furniture.

“All in all it seemed today has been one of the smoothest start-ups in recent years,” Lawrence said yesterday.

However, the JTA’s Barclay pointed to some glitches, but said these could be addressed soon.

In St Thomas, the Yallahs Primary School was not re-opened as repairs were being done to the bathrooms, while Grants Pen Primary, also in the parish, remained closed as the school was still housing a number of persons displaced by the hurricane.

Barclay said these schools are expected to be fully functional by today.

She also reported that there was a shortage of furniture at Mannings High.to the Ministry of Education and they are currently trying to address the situation,” she said.

The Cascade Primary School in St Mary and Scotts Hall Primary in St Ann also did not open yesterday as repairs were being done. Both schools are, however, expected to be opened today.

Manchioneal Primary in Portland, which was being used as a shelter, was re-opened yesterday after the hurricane victims being housed there were given temporary shelter at the nearby teacher’s cottage.

At Robins Bay Primary, also in Portland, the school could not be opened as the roof and two latrines were badly damaged during the hurricane. The school, the JTA president said, should be reopened today although repairs were not completed.

Regarding the problems with the abolition of tuition fees, Barclay said the most major incident happened at Frome High in Westmoreland where some parents were demanding a refund of all fees, including the portion paid towards the auxiliary charges.