CARISBROOK, St Elizabeth — Carisbrook Primary and Infant School Principal Patrick Malcolm could barely contain his frustration on Monday as he welcomed students back to a campus he said is “not ready any at all”. But he was determined to make the best of what was available and get the new academic year going, despite the setbacks.

Eleven classroom spaces, including the computer lab and library, are out of use as rehabilitation work continues, leaving the school to improvise with temporary learning spaces. Students are being accommodated in an open-air classroom and a tent, while other areas have had to be repurposed to facilitate classes.

“The plant is not ready any at all, by any stretch of the imagination. Here is a scaffold right here, and this morning is Monday morning. That’s zinc out yonder, those are children in an open-air classroom, and those are children in a tent,” Malcolm fumed.

Roofing work continues on one of the classrooms at Carisbrook Primary and Infant School in St Elizabeth on Monday, the start of the new academic year, as the institution undergoes rehabilitation following Hurricane Melissa which hit sections of Jamaica last October.

He noted that the school reopened about two weeks after Hurricane Melissa ravaged sections of the country on October 28 last year, but said he was particularly frustrated that rehabilitation work, which began around May this year, subsequently stalled for about eight weeks.

“We were the first school after the hurricane to be back in school. I mean, we were back on November 17… and we’ve been enduring, running and hiding from the rain, getting wet up, pushed in a corner, dismissing school early, all of that; and even now, we’re not yet ready!” he said.

Carisbrook Primary and Infant School Principal Patrick Malcolm speaks to the Jamaica Observer on Monday about the ongoing rehabilitation work at the St Elizabeth school and the challenges of reopening while several classrooms remain out of use.

Despite the setbacks, the principal said the school could not afford to wait for the repairs to be completed before bringing the children back.

The school has 137 students on roll, but according to Malcolm not all were present on Monday.

He explained that they used the first day to begin testing temporary arrangements, with third and fourth graders sent home after about two hours while the remaining students continued with classes and were set to go home before midday.

Students at Carisbrook Primary and Infant School in St Elizabeth temporarily attend classes under a tent on Monday as rehabilitation work continues at the school following Hurricane Melissa.

The principal said they will be introducing a rotation system for the rest of the week, with infants staying home while other grades use the available space until the normal layout can be restored.

Malcolm told the Observer contractors expect to complete the reroofing within two or three days, although he believes the wider rehabilitation work could take considerably longer.

“If you ask me, I’d say this building won’t be ready for another month or two. But these guys work fast, and once they are working upstairs, we can operate downstairs. Once the roof is on, then I’m sure they can do electrical work in the nights and the evenings,” he said.

The computer lab at Carisbrook Primary and Infant School in St Elizabeth remains under construction as rehabilitation work continues following Hurricane Melissa.

Even with the disruption Malcolm said students appeared eager to be back, despite initially being struck by the unfamiliar surroundings.

“This morning when we had devotion they didn’t even talk,” he said of the students. “They seemed to have been in awe. But they are probably surprised that they are not back to their normal self yet. But they are alive and well, and they are running around, and the classes are in operation now as we speak. So they’ll get it together in short order.”

“When we spoke to them this morning about school and staying home for another few days you could see the look on their face as if to say, ‘Oh, absolutely not.’ So they are here and they are ready to go, so we’re going to work with them,” he added.

Malcolm is encouraged that the construction crew is making progress on repairs needed to get students back to more familiar surroundings.

“The good thing is that they are working on it; the men who are working, they are concerned and they are working overtime to get it right,” he said.