MONTEGO BAY, St James — Principal of Irwin Primary School Kingsley Bailey is calling for assistance from the relevant authorities to eliminate what he describes as a “serious case of termite infestation” that has been plaguing the St James-based institution for over two years.

“It is a major issue because, to be honest, the entire school compound is infested with termites. It is like they are in the soil itself and come up through the concrete. They are rapidly eating the furniture and anything that is made of wood,” Bailey told the Jamaica Observer West.

When this newspaper first highlighted the plight of the school last March, Bailey stated that the Ministry of Education was made aware of the situation and had shared plans to step in and mitigate any further damage to the furniture. However, Bailey said this is yet to be done.

The principal also told the Observer West that personnel from other schools across the country have informed him that they, too, are being affected by termite infestations.

“The Ministry of Education is aware of our situation and it is not only affecting the Irwin Primary School, but it is also a nationwide problem. There are a lot more schools that are infested with termites. We are not the only school that I know of being affected by this,” said Bailey.

“Nothing has been done about this issue. Yesterday, I went to a classroom where one of the desks has been completely eaten out by termites, so the students have to be writing on some desks that are damaged,” the principal bemoaned on Tuesday afternoon.

Bailey noted that since returning to school on Monday for the Easter term, he has realised that a number of the furniture which were in good standing before the Christmas break are now also infested by termites. He further stated that this means approximately 50 per cent of the school’s furniture are currently being affected by the infestation.

“When you go to the different classes you can see the benches and desks are visibly infested with termites. The top of the desks are totally gone and several benches are badly damaged by termites. The school library is still infested and termites are also in the main office eating down the furniture that are in there,” said Bailey.

He told the Observer West that the classrooms being utilised by the grades four and six students have mostly been affected by the infestation. However, without the addition of new furniture, Bailey said the students and teachers have no choice but to continue using their old equipment.

In March, Bailey told this newspaper that he could only accommodate roughly half of the 820 children enrolled at the school as some classrooms were forced shut due to the damaged furniture.

While the Ministry of Education had announced that all schools were to return to the face-to-face learning modality as was being utilised before the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Bailey had told the Observer West that the Irwin Primary School was being operated on a shift system due to the termite infestation.

Students who could go into the school face-to-face were, however, no strangers to the termite-infested furniture at their school, Bailey also said.

“There are some desks that are currently in use by our students even though they are infested by termites. We have to use them because we have nothing else, and we want to have our students in class,” the principal said.

When the Observer West visited the institution then, students were eager to show how badly damaged their desks and benches were. One young boy stated that he swept his classroom multiple times throughout the day as whenever he moved on his bench, dust particles from the rotten furniture would surround him.

It has been almost a year since this newspaper highlighted the conditions in which these students are being forced to learn, but according to Bailey, the school has received no assistance. The institution is no longer operating on a shift system as all students are now expected to physically attend school, Bailey said.

He told the Observer West that he would like to see something done to eradicate the plaguing issue before more of the school’s furniture is affected.

“The only thing that can be done is we have to treat the entire school and then replace the furniture that is currently being used. The termites don’t affect the children physically, but I just know that the furniture that they are using now is not safe because they are infested,” Bailey argued.

Attempts made by the Observer West to contact the director of the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Region Four Dr Michelle Pinnock for a comment on the worrying matter were unsuccessful.