GREEN ISLAND, Hanover — Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver’s claims of inappropriate behaviour from hurricane shelterees on school grounds have received support from president of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) Stewart Jacobs, who said his organisation reportedly received similar reports.

Malabver told the Jamaica Observer Wednesday that he will respond today to sceptics who have asked for more details after his revelation Tuesday that some Hurricane Melissa victims provided with shelter at a school in western Jamaica have engaged in sex acts in full view of students.

“What the JTA president has said is not making up stories. He’s not creating a story. We — the NPTAJ — do not have empirical evidence, meaning proof – that is pornography. You can’t just have that walking around with. But based on the reports that we’ve gotten over the period of time, it does happen, it does occur. It is not for us to say anywhere at all that what the president of the JTA is saying is fictitious; it’s not. It does happen,” Jacobs told the Observer when contacted Wednesday.

“It is a very sad state of affairs that adults who are supposed to be behaving and conducting themselves in a particular way in the environs of a school community where students are visible and students are present, that such lewd behaviour in public would be extended in such a way that is demonstrated in the presence of our children,” he added.

The NPTAJ president gave additional details of other behavioural issues that needed to be addressed.

“The NPTAJ has gotten, in the past, complaints of expletives being used by shelterees, and we have gotten complaints also of behaviour that is untoward by adults in these areas in the presence of our students. Something has to be done to isolate the shelterees from the general population of the school that is now sheltering them,” urged Jacobs.

“I am aware of the economic constraints and the processes to get these people re-situated. But it has to be done in a way where the primary purpose of a school building isn’t compromised at all, because it was designed for our children to go to school to educate themselves and to be strong pillars in society,” he added.

The NPTAJ president noted that while he is confident that the Ministry of Education is working assiduously to have the matter addressed, he is hoping that plans to have shelterees out of schools will be expedited.

Addressing Tuesday’s opening ceremony of the JTA Education Conference 2026, Malabver expressed concern that students were being given a front-row seat to sex acts engaged in by Hurricane Melissa victims who are still sheltering in some schools, months after the October 2025 storm.

“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.

In a release issued on Wednesday, the education ministry said it had received no reports of sex at school shelters — neither at the school, regional, nor national level — and urged Malabver to provide details. The release also noted that principals have requested additional time to undertake additional extraordinary due diligence, given the serious implications of the allegation.

At present, there are 81 individuals being accommodated across eight shelter sites.

Jamaica Teachers’ Association President Mark Malabver