SOME school leaders are cautiously optimistic as they welcome the Government’s promise to provide water to schools ahead of next month’s reopening, but two of them have made it clear that the assistance must be more than an announcement but a reliable flow of support.

“The principals across all levels of the system are elated that the move is being made to secure sanitation across the schools… If water is provided at no cost or very low cost to schools, this is a move that we not only welcome for our students and our staff but also I am sure the parents would be quite elated to know that their children will be placed in safe and secure school environments because we’ll have the water required for cooking, cleaning and general sanitation,” Anniona Jones, president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS) told the Jamaica Observer Wednesday.

Her comments came after Water Minister Matthew Samuda assured that the Government will be taking action to ensure that schools, farmers and early-childhood institutions have adequate water supplies amid worsening drought conditions across the island.

The minister’s comments came during official commissioning of the Bunkers Hill Water Supply System in Clarendon on Tuesday. He announced that water trucks will be available to schools while a structured tank programme is being developed to assist early-childhood institutions and farmers with inadequate storage capacity.

Jones, who is also the principal of Haile Selassie High School, argued that while the initiative is welcomed, many institutions across Jamaica would require more than just water assistance. She pointed to the need to have adequate storage facilities.

“It’s one thing to be willing to provide the water, however some schools may need additional support in having tanks and the plumbing costs required for connection to ensure that they will have sufficient water,” she said.

Highlighting the issues faced by her school, Jones said the Government must be ready to commit to frequent water trips, the provision of water tanks to institutions beyond just early childhood education centres, and further assistance with piping systems to minimise water woes come September.

“My school is in a community that has frequent water loss, particularly during the day. We do have some storage facilities, however we are definitely in need of additional tanks. We emptied some of the tanks,” she said, adding that some of the tanks were damaged by both Hurricane Beryl in 2024 and last year’s Hurricane Melissa.

A student washes his face from his school’s water supply.

“We would definitely need additional support with additional tanks and, of course, the cost to get those tanks connected to our bathroom facility. We’ve made a move as school administrators generally to secure our canteen, to secure at least one of our bathrooms — and many schools have done that for their staff sanitary facilities. However, given the population, our concern is always the number of tanks available, the number of students, and the frequency of refilling, because that can be quite costly,” she outlined.

Despite these concerns Jones said she is pleased with steps being taken by the Government, and expressed hope that delivery of the initiative will be as convincing as the announcement.

“We welcome not just the statements, but we really are looking for the follow-through. Several comments have been made to reassure the public, however what we will find reassuring at this point is action. We want consistent, clear action that shows that we’re going beyond the sound bites and public relations, but we’re going towards consistent maintenance of high-quality standards for education,” she said.

Sharing similar sentiments was principal of deCarteret College Dr Prim Lewis, who is also fond of the water initiative, and hopeful that the Government actually delivers on its promise.

While acknowledging that her school, located in the parish of Manchester, was not currently experiencing drought conditions due to its climate-resilient infrastructure, she noted that many other institutions are not as fortunate.

Pointing to St Elizabeth, the parish in which she lives and which was severely affected by back-to-back hurricanes, Lewis stressed that the Government will have to make a significant effort to avoid school closures due to empty pipes.

“In St Elizabeth we have not had water in some areas since before [Hurricane] Melissa, and that was basically exasperated by Melissa. Personally, I live in Horizon Park, and at home I have not had water since post-Melissa. I know that sometimes when the NWC operations personnel say that they will bring water, what will happen is that the water may come later than anticipated, based on the number of schools that they have to supply [with] water,” Lewis said.

“The [National] Water Commission has always responded when called, where water is concerned to be delivered to schools. As I said before, it’s just that sometimes the response is not as timely as we expect. I have seen where schools are waiting on water and keeping the school open, expecting that water will arrive at ‘x’ time and the water did not arrive at ‘x’ time and therefore the school had to be closed for that day. [So], I am cautiously optimistic,” she added.