MOUNTAIN SPRING BAY, Trelawny — Immediate past president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Mark Malabver has lambasted the Government for what he has described as a failure to heed warnings that many Hurricane Melissa-battered schools would not be ready for the new school term.

“The chickens have come home to roost. A lot of it, I believe, has to do with management and how projects have been managed by the National Education Trust (NET) and the extent to which they have sought to hold contractors accountable. Contractors are being paid billions of dollars in terms of taxpayers’ money and many of the schools are not ready for opening, which is going to undermine teaching and learning,” he said.

Malabver was speaking with the Jamaica Observer on the sidelines of the JTA’s 62nd Annual Conference — a three-day event — that began on Monday at Ocean Coral Springs in Trelawny.

He said the association had voiced its concerns and anxieties in a letter sent months prior to the Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information Dr Dana Morris Dixon.

“We would have written to the minister, in a letter dated June 24. That’s as far back as we indicated to the minister what our concerns were and that, based on what we were observing, there would have been challenges for the opening of the school year,” revealed Malabver.

Earlier this month, Morris Dixon expressed strong disappointment with the slow pace of rehabilitation work at several public schools damaged by the Category 5 storm.

Two months prior, the minister stated that funding for institutional repairs was not an issue. However, despite massive financial allocations, recovery remained sluggish, prompting unannounced inspection tours and subsequent calls for stricter contractor oversight.

In directing sharp criticism at project execution, Malabver placed the blame squarely on administrative oversight and detailed the harsh environments educators are expected to navigate.

“Many of our teachers are working in horrendous conditions… We are dissatisfied, appalled really, as to the conditions that we observe. We have seen conditions that… not to take things out of school, but are befitting of an industrialised chicken coop. Those are some of the conditions that we observed when we visited and we wrote to the minister about that,” he stressed.

He also expressed frustration over what he characterised as a lack of direct communication from the Ministry of Education.

“Unfortunately, the minister and the ministry of education have not sought to answer us. But I’m sure they will have to deal with that going forward at our annual conference… It is unfortunate that when you write a letter as serious as this, that the Ministry of Education did not deem it necessary to respond to us. And many of the responses that we are getting are through media. For us, that’s a little bit disrespectful,” argued Malabver.

For her part, newly installed president of the association LaSonja Harrison pointed out that the current state of a number of schools in the west is unacceptable for any child and raised sharp inquiries regarding hurricane relief funding.

“How much of the $1.4 billion received from the hurricane relief monies has been channelled to education to help restore our schools? We hear you, Minister, that some $5.6 billion of the overall $18 billion — that is approximately 31 per cent — has been allocated to some 60 schools in regions three and five alone. That is approximately $93 million if the sum were to be divided equally. The question remains: How many other schools of the 600-plus institutions that reported damage from Hurricane Melissa have not yet begun any form of repairs?” questioned the JTA president.

“Additionally, if 60 schools have eaten away 31 per cent of the $18 billion, will the remaining 69 per cent be adequate to repair the some 530-plus schools left?” asked Harrison.

She also turned her attention to what she said were horrific conditions of makeshift tents used as classrooms by affected institutions as a way of sheltering from the elements.

“Something must be done, as those heat furnaces called tents are untenable. To subject any animal to those shelters is considered animal cruelty. How much more our nation’s future — our precious children, and those who serve them — our nation’s teachers? That could be considered criminal. Can you imagine those experienced teachers, male and female, experiencing their personal summers as that is their current stage in life’s sojourn? That must be hell on earth. Let us do unto others as we would have them do unto us,” encouraged Harrison.