The St Hugh’s High School for Girls and the Yallahs High School in St Thomas are among some schools still suffering from infrastructural damage caused by the 5.6-magnitude earthquake that shook sections of Jamaica on October 30 last year.

President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Leighton Johnson on Tuesday told the
Jamaica Observer that procurement processes and budgetary constraints are among some of the reasons stated by the Ministry of Education for the delay in the repairs.

“St Hugh’s’ entire fifth-form block had to be condemned because of serious cracks, and the building was compromised. The integrity of the building was compromised, so the building unit did an inspection, and they closed that section,” said Johnson.

He shared that some fifth form students of the all-girls high school have been instructed to attend school virtually and are on a rotational basis.

Johnson shared that Yallahs High School also suffered minor infrastructure damage to some of its bathrooms, forcing the institution to use portable toilets.

“I’m not sure if that system continues, but we would want this to be rectified as soon as possible,” said Johnson.

He added that the delayed rehabilitation of infrastructure in these institutions highlights the need for a new approach to emergency funding for schools.

“Many of our schools are dated. They are aged,” said Johnson.

“The new funding arrangement ,we think, needs to ensure that there has to be an emergency fund in place. Emergency procurement procedures are in place so that the schools can access those funds to make the remedial work that is necessary to improve [the institutions],” argued Johnson.