'Not acceptable' - Education minister displeased schools repaired after Hurricane Beryl again damaged

Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon has raised questions regarding the quality of repairs done to some schools following the passage of Hurricane Beryl last year, saying it is "not acceptable" that some of the same schools were severely impacted by Hurricane Melissa.

About 364 schools were impacted by Beryl, which brushed Jamaica in July 2024, and more than $4 billion was allocated for repairs.

"Many of our schools that I have seen that sustained damage, what made me quite unhappy was the fact that last year after Hurricane Beryl, some of those very schools were repaired and one year later we're back at repairing them. So, that raises questions for me about the quality of work that would have been done and it also raises other questions about standards," Morris Dixon told a media briefing at Jamaica House on Thursday.

She said she has requested help from some of Jamaica's multilateral partners to look at the building standards around schools, "because it's not acceptable that you have a hurricane one year and you fix it and then the next year you're back at it again."

She said in some instances schools have done their own fundraising to add classrooms and other facilities, but even in those cases the structures need to be built so that they are resilient.

Morris-Dixon has reported that more than 600 schools were severely damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa on October 28.

"Some schools just don't exist any more," Morris Dixon told journalists, adding "So we are going to have be very creative in trying to get schools back."

She says Cabinet has approved clean-up grants, ranging from $300,000 to $1 million, for schools in Western Jamaica.

Morris Dixon said up to Wednesday 665 schools had reopened islandwide, but noted challenges in the western end of the island.

"We are hoping that within the next two weeks at least all students who have external exams, whether CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate), CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam) or PEP (Primary Exit Profile) will be back. So we are prioritising those students in the west. It will take some time to rebuild schools, but we do need to get those particular students out as quickly as we can while we look at temporary structures," she said.

Follow The Gleaner on X and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.