ST ANN’S BAY, St Ann — A notable reduction in classroom space at St Ann’s Bay Primary has resulted in uncertainty as to when face-to-face lessons will resume fully at the public school located in this parish capital.

A block of six classrooms, which has fallen into a state of disrepair and has been deemed unsafe for teachers and students was recently put out of operation.

“It is a significant chunk of the classroom space that we normally use to accommodate about 200 students and teachers at any given time,” Principal Trevor Cole told the Jamaica Observer.

“I am not sure whether or not it will be possible for us to have the challenges regarding that building resolved for us to return to have the full complement of students back in school Monday,” he added.

Monday, March 21, is when St Ann’s Bay Primary and other shift schools should fully resume face-to-face classes, the Ministry of Education has announced.

“We are not in a position to get everybody back on board one time because we don’t have the space,” said the school’s chairman Councillor Dalas Dickenson (Jamaica Labour Party, St Ann’s Bay Division).

In March 2020, the Government closed schools across the island to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Schools resorted to virtual learning, and subsequently to a blended approach that consisted of both online and face-to-face lessons.

The blended formula, currently in effect at St Ann’s Bay Primary, is expected to continue on Monday for the school’s 1,051 students.

“We have been employing a rotational model on a week-on, week-off basis to ensure that our students benefit from needed instruction with their teachers,” said the principal. “We also employed a whole-day school approach for the week when each group is at school. And for the time that they are online with their teachers, they are facilitated for half day. So it’s a blended approach we are using.”

He told the Observer that the education ministry has been aware, since the latter part of 2021, of the structural challenges with the classroom block.

“The Ministry of Education is aware of the situation and, through our discussions, I know that they are actively working on it,” he said. “I think within a short period of time the matter should be resolved… I know sometimes the processes take time in terms of procurement, identification of contractors and so forth.”

The Observer has been trying, without success, to get information from the education ministry about the proposed repairs and timeline. Its director of corporate communication, Colin Steer, is yet to respond to written questions submitted.

In the meantime, Dickenson is of the view that the school will need a new classroom block.

“We really want a building; we are short of a building at the school,” he said. “The education ministry, about five years ago, spent some money to do some work on the block [that is now out of use], but it fell back right where it is coming from… It is a concrete structure and things are falling from the roof due to poor material, poor workmanship and all of that…”

The principal shared the sentiment that the faulty classroom block should be demolished, but not now.

“I believe that demolition would be the best option. But we want to get the students back into a space so that we can fill some of the learning gaps and deficits created as a consequence of the novel coronavirus pandemic. And so we may have to do some patching work on the block and then look at a more long-term strategy,” he added.

The apparent delay in rectifying the issue regarding the classroom block has not gone down well with some parents who blasted the education ministry for not using the school’s protracted period of closure to undertake repairs.

“I feel disappointed and I think the children are being cheated,” said a working mother, whose son is in grade one and is allowed to attend classes every other week at the school.

“When I went to register my child, I was not informed of this classroom issue. I would have chosen a different school,” said the woman who asked that her name not be published. “The school has a classroom issue and we are not getting any information about it. We are only hearing that the classrooms are out of use and because of that the children have to come one week face-to-face and one week online. To tell you the truth, my child is not learning anything at home and I am not able to stay home and monitor him online every day. The children need to go to school.”

This is not the only case in which the education ministry is being accused of dragging its feet regarding repairs needed to accommodate students in light of the full resumption of face-to-face classes. A similar concern was raised at Port Maria Primary School in St Mary, where a section of a wooden classroom block was damaged by a February 1 flood. Up to a month later, no work was done on the block, forcing Port Maria Primary to improvise by placing more students into already small classrooms.