SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Students from schools severely damaged by Hurricane Melissa last October are set to sit this year’s Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examination from new locations across the parish, ensuring they have access to facilities with intact roofs and stable electricity.

The revelation was made by Region Four Regional Director Dr Michelle Pinnock in an interview with the
Jamaica Observer on Monday.

Pinnock confirmed that the Ministry of Education is actively transporting students, at no cost to parents, to these alternative sites in situations where repairs on their “home” schools are not yet complete.

The director assured that the selected host sites are fully prepared for the high-stakes exam.

Addressing potential concerns from guardians, she noted that parents have been understanding of the temporary shift.

The regional effort has been bolstered by a wave of donations to ensure vulnerable students are equipped with necessary supplies.

Digicel Foundation has provided pencil cases — complete with pencils, erasers, and sharpeners — to all grade six PEP students in Westmoreland. The Martin Foundation and Hyundai contributed an additional 600 pencil case sets. Other contributors include Alwyn Foster-Walden and the JPS Foundation, the latter of which sponsored an Easter camp to help students familiarise themselves with host locations.

Savanna-la-Mar Primary School is one of the severely damaged schools that will be having some 210 students sitting the exam today. The hurricane left the grades five and six buildings without a roof. To compound things, most of the students lost their homes, and the school had to provide urgent mental and social support.

Despite the school being faced with structural damage, at one point 40 to 50 displaced students from other schools were utilising Savanna-la-Mar’s infrastructure to avoid “major learning loss”. Some of these students have since registered permanently and will sit their exams alongside the regular cohort.

This morning, students will sit their exams from downstairs the damaged block and an all-purpose building donated by the former custos of Westmoreland, the late Owen “Hurry Hurry” Sinclair.

The institution’s grade six supervisor and coordinator, Sherine James-Tennant, said through rigorous practice and sessions with outside entities to ensure the students were “mentally prepared”, the students have shown remarkable endurance.

Frome Kindergarten and Preparatory School, which is a private institution established in 1946, was also badly damaged by the storm.

An entire block, consisting of four classrooms and bathrooms, was devastated, as was a sheltered walkway. The students, nine of whom were preparing to sit their exam today, had been relocated to a temporary classroom in the computer room. However, for the exam itself, the school had to look elsewhere for a suitable space.

Principal Arlene Coleman said the students will be comfortable.

At the end of the day on Tuesday a sense of readiness was certain.

“They are very excited,” stated Coleman. “They should do well.”

Psychosocial counsellors from the National Council of Drug Abuse, Anastasia Townsend (right) and Ammoy Chung provide psychosocial support to grade six students preparing for PEP exams at Savanna-la-Mar Primary School on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

Principal of Frome Kindergarten and Preparatory School Arlene Coleman collects her school’s exam materials and donated pencil cases from Education Officer Warren Brown in Savanna-la-Mar Tuesday afternoon. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)