Hanover schools still reeling from ‘Melissa’ pain

Western Bureau:

With the 2026-27 school year looming, several schools across Hanover that were damaged during the passage of Hurricane Melissa remain in a significant state of disrepair, raising concerns about how they will cope when classes resume.

Following recent concerns raised by Knockalva Technical High School principal Gregory Brown about the slow pace of repairs at his school, other principals across the western parish have been coming forward to raise their own concerns.

One such school is Bethel Primary School in Hopewell, arguably one of the best-performing primary schools in the parish. A teacher, who spoke with The Gleaner on condition of anonymity, said the school lost the use of five classrooms during the hurricane – two were destroyed and three sustained extensive roof damage.

“Nothing in the form of repair work has been done or has started to date. Four of the classrooms housed Grade-One classes, and one housed a grade-two class,” said the teacher.

According to the teacher, since the passage of the hurricane last October, four contractors have visited the school, photographing and assessing the damage, but none has returned to the institution up to August 10.

“Following the hurricane, tarpaulin was put on the roof of the three classrooms that were not completely lost, and we had to make do as best we could,” another teacher told The Gleaner.

“During that time, and up until we went off for the summer holidays, we had to pray that it does not rain, because those classrooms, even with the tarpaulin, leaked in places.”

The school, which had a student population of 634 during the last school year and will see 104 of those students moving on to high school in September via the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) route, is expected to welcome more than 100 new students for the 2026-27 school year.

“I am almost sure that the school’s administration will have to convert the auditorium into classrooms for the new school year, because even if the repair work starts any time now, it cannot be properly completed for use when school opens in September,” the teacher said.

After the hurricane, the Ministry of Education indicated that repair work on all the damaged schools would be carried out through the National Education Trust.

More than 600 schools were damaged by the Category-5 hurricane, which made landfall in western Jamaica and devastated St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St James and Trelawny.

According to government analysis, 239 institutions suffered severe structural damage, 339 sustained moderate damage, and 101 had minor damage. The school recovery, repair and rebuilding exercise has been slow for the most part, primarily due to bureaucratic gridlock.

editorial@gleanerjm.com