THE Jamaica National (JN) Foundation will be aiding in urgently needed repairs to the DRB Grant Demonstration Basic School in Catherine Hall, St James.

The school, which was built with seven classrooms to accommodate 140 children, sustained major damage during the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28.

Addressing a recent JIS Think Tank for youth and education programmes at the JN Foundation, Sydoney Preddie said the school was selected because of its location in one of the most highly impacted areas.

Preddie noted that the institution, which now serves more than 160 students, suffered significant damage from high winds and flood waters.

“Reports indicate that the school sustained 95 per cent damage due to flooding. It now has knee-high mud and also lost its roof. Repairing the school is an excellent way to recognise the contributions made to early childhood education, and also an excellent way to move towards recovery,” she said.

The school is named after the late Dudley Ransford Brandyce (DRB) Grant, who is considered the ‘father’ of early childhood education in Jamaica. And Preddie pointed out that the repair project aligns with JN Foundation’s overall focus on early childhood development as a key partner in a Regional Colloquium on Early Childhood Education, which starts today and ends tomorrow.

“Dudley Grant, a man ahead of his time, understood the importance of partnership, and — perhaps fortuitously given the passage of Hurricane Melissa — Jamaica’s already vulnerable early childhood sector will need all hands on deck from partners to help the sector recover. The impact of the inability to attend school on a regular basis has been known to have devastating impacts on young children, and at this point, as an advocate for Jamaica’s children, this colloquium is needed now more than ever,” said professor of early childhood care and education at UWI Mona and manager of the Dudley Grant Early Childhood Resource Centre, Professor Zoyah Kinkead Clark.

She pointed out that the two-day colloquium is focused on “advocating for Jamaica’s most vulnerable citizens, its youngest children”.

The Hurricane Melissa ravaged DRB Grant Demonstration Basic School in Catherine Hall, St James.

Inside a classroom damaged by floodwaters and wind associated with Hurricane Melissa at DRB Grant Demonstration Basic School in Catherine Hall, St James