Uncertainty over resumption of internet service affecting St Elizabeth school, residents
ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Students and staff at Park Mountain Primary and residents residing near the school, say they are not satisfied with the lack of a timeline for resumption of internet service in their community from their provider, Flow.
Park Mountain is located just west of Santa Cruz.
Acting principal at Park Mountain Primary Keisha Reid said the school has been without internet access since schools resumed after mid-term break earlier this week.
“We normally have internet from Flow but presently we don’t have any, because I was told that somewhere down the main road some wires were burnt and we don’t have any internet at the school now,” she said on Friday.
“We are being affected, because when the teachers are presenting lessons and they would need the internet service as well as for administrative purposes in the office,” she added.
Efforts by OBSERVER ONLINE to get a response from Flow were unsuccessful. This was despite OBSERVER ONLINE being told by a senior representative at the telecommunications company on Tuesday to email questions, which was done. There has been no response since.
Reid said the school, which has 496 students and 24 teachers, is dependent on internet access for digital learning.
“We try to hotspot, but it is terrible due to limitations,” she said.
Residents of the area, some of whom have online-based jobs, have also complained bitterly about the loss of service.
Reid said a Flow representative told her that the company is not in a position to give a timeline for the service to be restored.
“I contacted Flow and they told us that the copper from the pole is damaged and they don’t have any copper in the island as yet and they don’t know when they are going to get and they are changing out the wires now to fibre, so they can’t even give us much word on that,” she said.
A resident who asked not to be named said Flow also gave him a similar response.
“The area is affected by damaged cables. I’m unable to provide a timeline as to when it will be restored,” the resident reported the Flow representative as saying.
— Kasey Williams
