AS Hurricane Beryl-battered Hampton School and Munro College in St Elizabeth work towards getting all their students back into the classroom by September 16, their administrators believe relief supplies from Jamaicans Abroad Helping Jamaicans at Home (JAHJAH) Foundation and its partners, donated last week, will bring them closer to that goal.

While most schools across Jamaica were able to accept their full complement of students at the start of the 2024/2025 academic year, beginning the week of September 2, that was not the case for Munro and Hampton.

They were two of the schools badly affected when Hurricane Beryl skirted the island on July 3, resulting in extensive damage. While the Ministry of Education and Youth has committed to repairing some buildings, other crucial structures at the institutions also need repair. This is where the donations from JAHJAH Foundation will come in handy.

The foundation, through its host of partners in the United States, donated zinc, plywood and other crucial supplies to both institutions. Manning’s School in Westmoreland was also among schools that received relief assistance from the foundation.

“We are very grateful to the JAHJAH Foundation and Dr Dixon for the assistance; it will definitely go a far way. This will add to what we would have gotten from the Ministry of Education, through the National Education Trust, to tighten up some of those areas where the ministry would not have been able to assist us with repairing, like the dormitory and the auditorium… and staff housing and various other buildings,” said Clarence Burrell, senior teacher and first-form year coordinator at Munro College.

“The plywood, the zinc, we are very grateful for. I am hoping that Jamaicans understand that we are still in need of all the assistance we can get so that we can quickly recover from the effects of the hurricane. In terms of the auditorium and those other areas which the ministry would not have covered in their assistance, we are fortunate to have had some from the old boys’ association,” he said.

Burrell shared that 31 of 35 buildings at Munro were damaged, with entire classroom blocks losing their roofs, as well as other sections of the property.

“The auditorium, we lost pretty much half of the roof at the back section. The dormitories were not damaged to a great extent, which we are thankful for. We had some broken windows; and there is some plumbing work that needs to be done because the tanks that were on top of the dormitories blew off and there was some damage to the roof, but nothing major.

“The principal’s office lost its roof, and the vice-principal’s office below was damaged. The sixth-form block — which is above the school’s cafeteria — that lost its roof completely, and because it is above the cafeteria, water seeped all the way through to the cafeteria,” he said. “The laundry area lost its roof. Staff housing, I can count at least four — one of which I live in — that lost [their] roof. I was majorly displaced because of that.”

He shared that the plan is to continue the repair work while school is in session.

Meanwhile, Hampton’s Principal Mahvell Charlton-Brown also expressed gratitude for the support from the foundation.

“Hampton suffered significant damage. We had a number of spaces that became unusable because of roofs lost or damaged. Of those buildings, we had four classroom blocks that lost their roofs — that does not include our science laboratories, home economics laboratory, administrative spaces, and our dormitories. We have received support from the Ministry of Education, through the National Education Trust.

“Of the four classroom blocks I mentioned, one was completed and is now ready at the start of the school year but we are still awaiting the completion of three other classroom blocks. As such, Hampton commenced the school year utilising a phased reopening approach in the first week.

“We hope to be able to have our 1,200 ladies with us on Monday, September 16. That is, however, still dependent on how quickly the Ministry of Education’s teams are able to complete and handover the other three classroom blocks,“ she said.

She said the resources from JAHJAH Foundation will help in the repair of other spaces not receiving assistance from the ministry.

“In particular, there is a classroom on the sixth-form complex that we have the responsibility of restoring, and so the materials we have gotten here will be of tremendous benefit to us,” Charlton-Brown said at Santa Cruz United Church in St Elizabeth where JAHJAH Foundation handed over the relief supplies last Thursday.

While Hampton embarked on a phased reopening, Munro College got approval for a delayed restart of teaching and learning at the institution.

“Our principal asked the ministry for us to start a week later than expected. We were probably the most affected school by the hurricane. We will be doing a phased orientation [this] week. We will have our first formers coming in on Sunday, September 8, and they will stay on campus until Wednesday, September 11 for orientation. By Thursday we will have our second and third formers for their orientation, and then the fourth and fifth formers will come in on Friday. The following Monday, September 16, classes will officially begin.

Burrell said he trusts that the engineers contracted by the education ministry will get the work done in good time as they understand the importance of having the students back into the physical space.

“Our boys are better engaged when they are in the physical space, so they are working very hard to ensure we get back to the physical space by September 16, the latest,” he said.