TRELAWNY, Jamaica – Principal of the William William Knibb Memorial High School in Trelawny and president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, Linvern Wright, is bemoaning the deplorable condition of the road leading to his school and the neighbouring Holland High.

Wright said that his complaints about the need for the renovation of the Falmouth to Martha Brae road, as well as the Holland road, on which Holland High and William Knibb are located, have fallen on deaf ears.

“The comments about the roads coming to William Knibb and Holland High are horrible. I have spoken to the mayor. I haven’t spoken to the Member of Parliament, but I spoke to the councillor in charge of area, I have spoken to individuals on a personal level at NWA [National Works Agency] and I think other people have made representations,” Wright said.

“It’s disgraceful because we have two schools with over 2,000 children coming and that is what the country greets them with in terms of respect, and I think it is something that needs to be addressed, not just to here, but for all schools that have that kind of horrible condition for students to travel to school.”

He argued that a road leading to a nearby tourist attraction has been paved for the transportation of cruise passengers but the ones for Jamaicans ignored.

“The irony is that there’s a road that goes through the bushes that feeds a tourist area that only the tour buses use when the ships come in. That road is beautifully resurfaced, but the ones where Jamaican citizens live, who really deserve the respect of government, their roads are not fixed,” Wright bemoaned.

A group of taxi operators who lined up near the school also bemoaned deplorable condition of the Holland main road.

Meanwhile, Wright noted that there was a smooth start to the phased opening of school for the new academic year.

By Friday all the grades will be phased in, he explained.

Karlene Segre, regional director at the Ministry of Education Region Three, said there were no major glitches to the start of the new school year.