GREEN ISLAND, Hanover — President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Dr Mark Malabver has expressed concern that students are being given a front-row seat to sex acts engaged in by Hurricane Melissa victims who are still sheltering in some schools.

“The conditions are deeply troubling. Reports of shelterees engaging in sexual activity within the clear view of students is something that everyone should be outraged about,” he said.

Malabver was addressing Tuesday’s opening ceremony of the JTA Education Conference 2026. The three-day event is being held at Princess Grand Jamaica Hotel here in Green Island, Hanover. He is concerned that this exposure to adult activities in a school environment compromises students’ safety and well-being.

Malabver told the Jamaica Observer on the margins of the conference that he received reports from a particular parish in western Jamaica over two weeks last month. He said students who claimed they saw the sex acts reported them to teachers.

“Students have reported that they have seen that kind of activity taking place, and that is a point of concern for us,” stated Malabver, who was unable to say if such incidents are still taking place and if they had been reported to the police.

The JTA head has long argued that the continued use of schools as shelters is untenable. On Tuesday, he emphasised the gravity of the situation by highlighting JTA members’ reports of “teachers’ resources going missing, [and] reports of schools being transformed into spaces befitting of a tenement yard that no longer represents institutions of learning”.

Pointing out that it has now been six months since the Category 5 storm devastated sections of western Jamaica, the JTA president said teachers and some students remain in conditions that are unacceptable.

He also dismissed previous comments by Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie that most of those who had sought shelter at schools had since left, and disruptions are being kept to a minimum.

“When we hear, for example, the claim by the minister of local government that there is no displacement, we must ask, ‘What do we call it when students are removed from classrooms and placed in tents? What do we call it when schools operate on rotation systems because classrooms are occupied by shelterees?’ If that is not displacement, it must be replaced,” quipped Malabver.

He again pointed out that the JTA has an obligation to agitate on its members’ behalf.

“Let me make it clear, we are not talking about garbage or garbage collection — which is the portfolio responsibility of the minister of local government. Neither are we talking about parks and markets or parish council roads. What we are talking about, colleagues, are the conditions of service of our members,” argued Malabver.

“Our… students are exposed to the elements, along with their teachers, while classrooms are being occupied by shelterees under fans. That is not just unacceptable, it is outrageous — something that no modern society or Government should condone, let alone seek to defend,” he added.

Underscoring the rights of children and teachers, Malabver said the current conditions are not just an inconvenience but a violation of rights. He pointed to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Occupational Safety and Health Convention ratified by Jamaica more than 25 years ago, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and argued that what obtains now offends the spirit and law of the Child Care and Protection Act.