MOUNT HANNAH, Hanover — While several schools in Hanover Western are well advanced in their preparations for the new academic year following the passage of Hurricane Melissa last October, extremely poor roads remain a major concern for at least one administrator.

“The road conditions are horrible. When I say horrible, horrible. The road conditions are so bad to the point where the… resources that the Government sends to the school by contracting couriers, they don’t even want to come,” Mount Hannah Primary School Principal Nicholas James complained to the Jamaica Observer.

​James recounted a recent dispute with a truck driver contracted by the Ministry of Education to deliver desks and chairs to his school, noting that the driver refused to complete the journey.

Poor road conditions in the community of Mount Peace. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

“He told me that before he takes them up to my school he would rather take them back to the location where he took them from,” stated James.

To salvage the delivery, James had to hire a small truck to retrieve the items from the driver who stopped about half a mile away in Maryland.

Traversing the nine-mile road from the capital town of Lucea to the school takes more than an hour. According to James, public transportation is severely limited as a direct result of the poor infrastructure.

“It is so bad that public transportation is severely affected… there are like two or three buses that I wouldn’t say are consistent, so the community members suffer greatly. It’s really heart-wrenching, [and] atrocious now,” the principal said.

A fully repaired Cove Primary School located in the coastal community of Cove in Hanover. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

“It affects the students and teachers because I have teachers and students who come from Lucea and it is so difficult sometimes that in some cases, teachers can only come halfway, and we have to be asking bikers to pick them up and carry them up. Sometimes I myself have to drop teachers down to Lucea because of the lack of transportation,” added James.

​Clifton resident Tanesha Kerr faces similar hurdles with her 13-year-old child, who must commute from Clifton to Lucea before taking a second vehicle to Rhodes Hall High School in Orange Bay. With no registered public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators willing to service the route due to the deteriorated road conditions, availability and cost have become critical issues.

“Because of the condition of the road we have a few vehicles that take on the responsibilities of taking the children and adults to school and back home. The thing is, the vehicles that run on these roads are not legit,” stated Kerr.

“Another thing is that where the fare comes in, the taxis, even though they’re not PPV straight taxis, they use the condition of the road to enforce their own taxi fare because each time their argument is ‘the road is bad’,” said Kerr, who noted that children are charged an extra $50 on the usual fare of $150.

Despite the persistent transportation challenges, James expressed relief after his school received a new roof to replace the one damaged by the Category 5 Melissa, alongside newly tiled board flooring.

Repair work is approximately 90 per cent complete and is expected to finish by the end of October. The school is also awaiting movable partitions for classrooms currently being manufactured outside the parish.

“For the first time, my classrooms will be like the ideal classrooms where you can actually open a door and go into a classroom, rather than the makeshift partitions that I had in place before,” stated an elated James.

A workman carrying out repairs to Mount Hannah Primary School in Hanover last week Friday. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

At Clifton Primary and Infant School — also affected by poor road conditions — the roof is currently undergoing repairs slated for completion before November. While the infant department, located on the ground floor, was spared the worst of the storm, the primary department sustained heavy damage.

The school plans to utilise the infant department while repairs on the primary department are underway. With more than half of the primary department now covered, Principal Sutanya Allen hopes some classrooms will be ready by the start of the new term.

Cove Primary, which lost its roof during the storm, was previously forced to partner with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Davis Cove to continue holding classes. The school now features a new roof, funded by Sandals Foundation and American Friends of Jamaica (AFJ). Principal Patrice Campbell confirmed that all preparations are in place for the new term, while property fencing and cottage repairs are currently being handled by the Ministry of Education.