No romance in ruin - Children’s advocacy group blasts Holness over comments about students at damaged schools ‘learning closer to nature’

Children’s advocacy group Fi Wi Children Foundation (FWCF) has chided Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness for suggesting that Jamaican students forced to learn under trees following Hurricane Melissa are “learning closer to nature”.

Speaking at Tuesday’s launch of the Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC), Holness cited media reports of children learning under trees because their school in western Jamaica had not yet been repaired.

The Government has been criticised for leaving children to learn in less-than-desirable situations, but Holness countered that nature-based learning environments can be more supportive of education than traditional classrooms during intense tropical heat.

“Granted, this morning I was reading the newspapers where they highlighted children learning outside the classroom under trees. When I was going to school, that was my favourite time because the classrooms were so hot. You know, I’m not excusing the lack of resources in some schools, but the truth is that sometimes, you know, I’ve visited the classrooms a few times. Granted I’ve visited them in my jacket and tie and so I may be a little bit hotter than those in the classroom, but classrooms are unbearably hot, many of them. And so, we should not look down on having our children learn closer to nature, in cooler environments, and in a setting that is more supportive of learning,” Holness had said on Tuesday.

“Now, our responsibility is not to explain away failures and shortcomings. Our responsibility is to fix them, to remove the bottlenecks, and to accelerate delivery.”

A day later, in condemning the prime minister’s remarks, FWCF said they “risk romanticising conditions that children should not be expected to accept, particularly where students are learning in temporary facilities, near ongoing construction or in environments that may not meet appropriate standards for safe and healthy learning”.

The body argued that “children forced to learn under compromised conditions should not have those circumstances presented as an educational advantage”, and pointed to concerns that have persisted about the pace of repairs to damaged schools across several parishes.

DISAPPOINTED

On Tuesday, Holness again conceded that he, too, was disappointed with the pace of the recovery after Melissa.

“But no one wants to go to Parliament to face the PAAC (Public Administration and Appropriations Committee) that will say, ‘You did not follow procedure’ or get a report from the auditor general that writes you up. No public servant wants that smear against their name. And so, they’re not going to be moving any faster than what the process allows them to. But the people are still there waiting and that’s the reality. That’s the reality. I am not satisfied. I am, you know, I made it very clear, I am not satisfied with the pace at which we have been able to deliver,” the prime minister said.

FWCF also urged the Government to “urgently provide the public with transparent timelines for the completion of school repairs, explain the safeguards in place for children attending schools undergoing construction, and ensure that disaster recovery efforts are guided by children’s rights rather than public relations narratives”.

The prime minister’s remarks came amid public outrage over conditions in parishes such as St Elizabeth and Westmoreland, where severe storm damage remains unaddressed nearly a year after the historic Category 5 hurricane.

However, at the JAMRROC launch, Holness also argued that the present scenario provides opportunities.

“Again, we have used this as an opportunity to consolidate some schools, to rebuild others, not just to repair, but to rebuild. And that is going fairly well. I believe we have over 300 schools on our roster for repairs and we have advanced quite significantly, given all the challenges with procurement, contracting, weather, and all other challenges.”

According to Holness, there is a need for what he termed a “mindset shift”.

“It’s a fear or a lack of belief that we can build big things and build them quickly. The bureaucracy is almost unsure of itself to take on large projects. We hope that with NaRRA (National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority), we will also have a mindset shift. Because it’s really a function of how we see ourselves as a small island or a small country. And we need to shift away from that.”

However, he also stressed the need for accountability.

“So, we want to be clear, however, that speed without accountability is equally unacceptable. A national undertaking of this size, financed by substantial public resources, and required to move with urgency, demands corresponding weight of scrutiny. So, let me be clear about something first, right? NaRRA does not sit outside Jamaica’s accountability framework. There have been a lot of narratives which would suggest that NaRRA is outside the public accountability framework. That is not the case.”

JAMRROC is expected to provide independent oversight of NaRRA, the agency tasked with coordinating post-disaster reconstruction and advancing Jamaica’s long-term resilience-building efforts.

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com