A technical team from the Ministry of Education is now updating a plan to address water woes which could face the island’s schools as the drought conditions persist.

On Wednesday, permanent secretary in the education ministry Dr Kassan Troupe told a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House that a water resilience plan for schools is far advanced.

“We know that there is a water challenge and coming out of COVID we had some learning opportunities there that we are building on. We have a network of what’s happening in our schools. Which are the schools getting piped water, tanks, needing tanks, needing upgrades, repairs and we have a cadre of private providers who will deliver water to our schools if there is a challenge.

“We measure the [water] storage capacity of the facilities in our schools and how long they will be able to last, so we put a rhythm in place to respond to the needs of our schools in respect to water,” said Troupe.

Last week minister with responsibility for water Senator Matthew Samuda told the post-Cabinet media briefing that with the Meteorological Service projecting rain in approximately six to eight weeks, the drought management committee will convene weekly to monitor the situation across the island.

Samuda noted that Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced a series of measures, including the allocation of $150 million aimed at alleviating the effects of the ongoing drought impacting the island and promised that critical facilities, including schools and hospitals, will be given special attention.

In the meantime Troupe admitted that the physical plants of many schools will be a challenge in the heat now facing Jamaica but argued that will be a long-term fix.

“If you look at the [Education] Transformation [Task Force] report…the cost that was estimated for the eight years of this programme, two thirds of that has to do with the infrastructure improvements in our schools. So we have to look at how we retrofit the spaces,” added Troupe.

She noted that this year the education ministry has been allocated $2 billion for capital expenditure for this fiscal year and promised that the ministry will be moving expeditiously to tackle school plants and make then climate friendly.