MOUNTAIN SPRING, Trelawny — Minister of Education Fayval Williams says repair work is going on in earnest at the 352 schools impacted by Hurricane Beryl, in an effort for them to be ready for reopening by Monday, September 2, but contingency plans have been put in place for schools not fully repaired.

“We have been meeting with our regional directors, with all our building officers, and if there’s a situation that they believe may not be totally ready for September 2, they’ve already put contingency plans in place, which have been discussed with principals,” Williams said.

She, however, expressed confidence that the majority of the 352 schools will be ready for the September 2 reopening.

“There are not too many of those situations, but I could think of one school in which the timber building that they were using is collapsed, and it is impossible to put up a replacement building in eight weeks. That regional director has already had conversations with the principal, parents with parents and a church that has a hall that’s right across the street to accommodate those students. So when I talk about contingency plans, that’s an example of what that would allow schools to carry on,” Williams added.

She was speaking at the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA’s) 60th annual conference held at the Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny on Wednesday.

Williams revealed that Munro College, which was one of the schools that suffered significant infrastructural damage, might be opened one week late.

She revealed that Munro’s principal, Dr Mark Smith, who was installed as JTA president Monday night, informed her that the one-week delay was based on the magnitude of the repair work at the St Elizabeth-based school.

The education minister told teachers that the Ministry of Education was not neglecting any schools damaged during the passage of Hurricane Beryl. Instead, she said, the focus has been on addressing those that were most severely impacted.

“We focused on priority one schools to get those back up and running, and we commit to priority two and three schools that your damage will also be repaired, but it will be done during the school year. So on September 2, you can open. What are some examples of priority two schools? Schools where a tree might have fallen and broken your boundary fence, or wall that needs to be fixed. But will it stop your school from operating come September 2? No, it won’t. It shouldn’t. So we’re asking for understanding as we lay out our approach to this, so that schools don’t feel as if they’ve been neglected or victimised. It’s just a reality of prioritising the severely damaged schools versus those that are moderately damaged versus those with minor damage,” Williams said.

She added that even as Hurricane Beryl expedited infrastructural work at public educational institutions, “serious building infrastructure upgrade is still ahead of us”.

She added that even as Hurricane Beryl expedited infrastructural work at public educational institutions, “serious building infrastructure upgrade is still ahead of us”.

“Hurricane Beryl accelerated some of the work that needed to have been done decades ago. Some roofs that used to leak will leak no more because they have been replaced as a result of the work that we did to rectify the hurricane damage. But I don’t want to depend on a hurricane to do what we ought to be doing in and out of season,” she said.