In deference to the significant psychological and emotional trauma to educators and students caused by Hurricane Melissa, Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon says the State will be footing the bill for services provided by private clinicians to any pupil or teacher.

Morris Dixon, in a statement to the Senate on Friday, said this provision was in recognition of the fact that while the damage to the physical infrastructure was monumental, the emotional and logistical damage of Hurricane Melissa on educational personnel and learners is significant and wide-ranging.

She said 111,177 students and approximately 5,000 staff members across public educational institutions have had their daily routine disrupted and their lives upended.

“Many of them have lost everything; they have no house. Staff are managing personal losses while simultaneously confronting the destruction of their workplace and supporting distressed students. School leaders and teachers are under immense operational strain to bring back a sense of normalcy to their environment. The magnitude of the storm has caused significant psychological and emotional trauma, the full extent of which is still indeterminable,” the education minister stated.

She shared an encounter with a child forced to relocate to Trelawny because her home in Montego Bay had been obliterated and said that while the learning losses brought on by the storm damage is worrying, Jamaicans also have the trauma from the storm to deal with.

“The ministry was swift in expanding access to psychological support to the education community. A national framework was activated to address trauma, led by the Guidance and Counselling Unit. Support is delivered through national, regional, and school-based interventions, including wellness activities and targeted counselling,” she noted.

Morris Dixon said one significant support activity is the access to clinicians who can provide stakeholders with relevant coping skills tailored to their identified needs. Additionally, she said 53 guidance counsellors are available to provide tele-counselling support.

“The ministry will cover costs for the services provided by private clinicians. We have an arrangement with private psychologists and psychiatrists and any student or teacher who needs that support can make use of it,” Morris Dixon told the Upper House.

She said a schools’ bulletin has been disseminated with the list of clinicians and volunteer counsellors and their contact information.

As to affected parents, Morris Dixon said four parenting support helplines have been relaunched for immediate psychosocial first aid in addition to the National Parent Support Commission’s network of over 55 parent mentors who have already been deployed to provide peer support in their immediate communities. She said on-spot psychosocial support will be provided to parents in the parishes most adversely affected.

In the meantime, Morris Dixon said as of November 19, 2025, 78 per cent or 791 schools have been reopened.

According to the minister, who said damage assessments are still underway, 21 public tertiary institutions and 679 schools were affected by the Category 5 hurricane which made landfall on the island’s south-western coast on October 28.

“Some of these schools, when you go there you don’t see a school, the hurricane has completely destroyed it. We have one that when you go there you don’t see it, you see the wall to the school and no evidence of the school, you just see some foundation and that’s what tells you there was a school there at one point,” the education minister shared.

She said the ministry is actively supporting the continuation of learning through the Rapid Resumption Grant, by providing initial clean-up funding ranging from $300,000 to $1 million based on the severity of impact, to facilitate debris removal, sanitation, and restoration of utilities and essential amenities. Morris Dixon said to date, $325 million in clean-up grants has been disbursed to more than 500 schools.