As temporary classrooms take over playing areas of some schools in St Elizabeth, principal of Carisbrook Primary and Infant School Patrick Malcolm is warning that physical education (PE) is becoming an unfortunate casualty of the push to get damaged schools functioning again.

According to Malcolm, this reflects a wider tendency to treat PE and sport as less important than academic subjects, despite their role in developing healthy, well-rounded children.

The concern is particularly acute at Maggotty High School, where temporary classrooms have left the school without enough space to conduct practical PE sessions, and properly facilitate its netball and football programmes.

Maggotty High’s Principal Sean Graham said the school has been forced to make a significant adjustment, with practical PE sessions put on hold for the current term while administrators work around the loss of playing space.

“The PE teacher expressed concern in terms of how she will facilitate training… because the school does not have a big enough play field. We also facilitate some level of football training here as well, especially for the junior team. So, those are going to be compromised, and we are going to have to find other ways to work it out,” Graham told the
Jamaica Observer on Monday.

He said the school understands the urgency of getting students back into suitable classrooms, but stressed that the temporary arrangement cannot be allowed to become prolonged.

Trophies on display at the Carisbrook Primary and Infant School. Naphtali Junior

“But we have to figure it out. Because the most important thing is to have the students here. All PE sessions for this term have to be theory-based. So, that is why I really still have to insist that by December, temporary classrooms have to be gone, because we don’t have the space to facilitate physical education, practical, plus the netball training and so on,” added Graham.

The situation is not confined to the high-school level.

At Middle Quarters Primary and Infant School, temporary classrooms are also being constructed on the school’s netball court, forcing administrators to look elsewhere for space for physical activity.

Principal Pauvine Watson-Barrett, who also spoke with the Observer on Monday, said the school intends to use its grassy areas rather than abandon PE altogether, although the loss of the hard surface presents its own challenges.

But Malcolm is adamant that the issue goes beyond finding alternative spaces.

He believes the temporary loss of playing areas exposes a long-standing failure to give physical education the same consideration afforded to subjects such as mathematics and English.

Principal of Maggotty High School Sean Graham stands in front temporary classrooms constructed on the school’s netball court in St Elizabeth. Naphtali Junior

Malcolm, who is also president of the St Elizabeth Football Association, pointed to Carisbrook’s own experience as evidence of the determination required to keep sport alive despite inadequate facilities.

The school has 137 students, including 30 infants, and has built a strong sporting programme despite limited resources.

Malcolm said the school has trophies, medals and plaques reflecting its achievements, while its football field — which he said is the only one in the area capable of accommodating a 200-metre track — is also shared with the wider community.

He charged that the school’s sporting success has often come despite, rather than because of, the resources available to it.

“This is the myopicness of the people around. We all want to be bright, maths and English people, but we don’t want to be fit and strong. So we’re going to be doctors, but sick doctors. We’re going to be teachers, but sick teachers. Sports is such that the impact of it can be felt everywhere in this country,” he said.

A temporary classroom being constructed on the court at Middle Quarters Primary and Infant School in St Elizabeth. Naphtali Junior

Malcolm questioned the decision to place temporary classrooms on playing areas when alternative spaces may be available, particularly at Middle Quarters.

“When you put a temporary classroom on the court, what are you suggesting to those who are interested in PE? That they’ll sit down and do nothing for the next two months, three months?…and it’s just sad because there is more space that they could use,” he said.

He argued that the recovery effort should not treat sport as an optional extra, particularly at a time when children are already coping with disruption caused by Hurricane Melissa and the rebuilding of their schools.

“Somebody has to get up and start to show a little bit more appreciation for sports and physical education in this country. We cannot do without it. It is the stress buster. It is where we go for a break, and if the students are not encouraged to do this, then we are in trouble,” Malcolm added.

He also linked the decline in physical activity to broader concerns about the health of Jamaican society, arguing that schools have a critical role to play in encouraging children to remain active.

“Later on, we’re going to have a sick society… Look at the size of some of the teachers we have around. Look at the size of the society. I mean, probably two-thirds of the society is overweight. We better fix that, and the only way we can fix that is with physical education,” argued Malcolm.