KINGSTON, Jamaica (AFP) — It will take up to 18 months for repairs and reconstruction activities to be completed at some schools that were damaged, some significantly, by Hurricane Melissa last October.

Minister of Education, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, spoke to the reality facing students and educators when she gave an update of the recovery process while making a ministerial statement in the Senate on Friday.

This, she said was the state of affairs despite all schools having resumed classes as of January 14, with many having to bring students in on a rotational basis while prioritising those who are preparing for external  examinations.

“On the rotational issue, it’s not the best. I want rotations ended as quickly as possible,” Morris Dixon said while responding to questions from Opposition senators.

“What we have in terms of different schools, we have different levels of damage. Some schools, you can fix it quickly, others, it takes long. Our estimate, for some schools, it’s six months of work, and we have to work around the children at school. We can’t not do the work and we can’t not have them at school,” the minister explained.

She shared that in some instances, the work is done at nights and on weekends. In other instances, “we have to be doing it better” meaning where a building previously had a zinc roof, it may now be replaced with slab roof which takes more time.

“So some schools [will take] up to six months, some 18 months because for some schools it’s almost like a total rebuild,” said Morris Dixon.

She told the Senate that to get more students to return to physical learning, tents are redeployed once repairs are completed at one facility, to aid in reducing the number of students on rotation. The education minister emphasised that the policy of the education ministry is that all students sitting exams must be in school five days per week. This goes for students sitting the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), CXC and CSEC.

Rotation applies to students in non-exam years only.

-Lynford Simpson