TREASURE BEACH, St Elizabeth — With the new academic year set to commence tomorrow there is uncertainty as to when at least one primary school here will reopen, while the principal of another is optimistic he will welcome students.

Up to last Thursday, the rebuilding work was incomplete on sections of the roof at Sandy Bank Primary School which was damaged during the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 3.

“Construction is still ongoing, so we are not sure of reopening for Monday for our students to come in, but we have contingencies in place,” Principal Opal Smith Alexander told the Jamaica Observer, while pointing out that online learning is not an option.

“Most people still don’t have access to the Internet, but we will be allowing some grades to come in on some days and some grades to come in on other days, but we have in mind for the grade six to come every day,” she added.

Amario Ebanks, whose niece will move on to grade four, said he had to visit the school multiple times to have her registered.

“I visited the school on numerous occasions. They are saying there will be no school on Monday. They said they will inform us as to when school will start via WhatsApp,” he said while insisting that the school is well known for students passing for traditional secondary institutions.

“Regarding Sandy Bank Primary, we would like to know what is going on there. It is a very brilliant school, with students passing to go to Munro, Hampton, and STETHS [St Elizabeth Technical High School],” he added.

Ebanks recounted the devastation caused by the Category 4 storm.

“It is going to take a while for this community to come back. It is costing us a lot, because there is still no Internet access. We have to put on plans on our phones to access the Internet, as there is still no service from [telecoms provider] Flow,” he said.

Ebanks is calling on the authorities to pay attention to telecommunication providers’ restoration of services.

“I don’t think the Government has been placing pressure on Flow to a similar extent as to what they did with JPS [Jamaica Public Service Company]. They need to give that same energy towards Flow. Even the phone service is intermittent,” he said.

“Right now the Breds Foundation office is where people have to go, because there is Starlink there,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pedro Plains Primary School Principal Wilton Smith is optimistic that classes will resume on Monday.

“Where the roof is concerned, the final touches are being done so that by Sunday the school should be ready for use Monday morning,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Pedro Plains Primary School is located in south-western St Elizabeth near Treasure Beach.

Smith said the school is in a race against time to ensure that there will be a roof over the heads of its 175 students.

“I am very confident, because preparations have been made. I have an infant department that I also prepared to receive several grades of students in case here wasn’t ready,” he explained.

He added that the neighbouring infant school can accommodate 100 students and has about 55 students registered.