It shouldn’t be that every year at this time the country’s education authorities are scrambling to secure a smooth start to the new academic year. After all, it is no secret that schools reopen in September after the summer break.

However, the current flurry of activity related to the start of the school year does not suggest that we place a lot of effort in planning.

For instance, it was just last week that Education Minister Fayval Williams reported that almost 100 public schools are in need of urgent repairs. The country, we believe, would have been better served had Minister Williams been able to report that all schools in need of repairs had been dealt with and were now ready to accept students.

The question, therefore, is what happened over the summer break to have us now in this position?

According to the minister, each region has been allocated $30 million and they have all received the funds. Ninety-seven schools, she said, were identified for critical repairs. Thirty-five of the projects were tendered, 34 had estimates prepared, and another 13 are to be completed for a total of $196 million.

But, even as Minister Williams provided that report to teachers at their annual general meeting, she acknowledged that “there are a thousand things to get done in our schools”, as many still face infrastructure challenges.

An example of that is provided on page eight of today’s edition of this newspaper. Furniture shortage and teacher resignations, the story states, top the list of major challenges faced by administrators at a number of public schools in the parishes of Hanover and Westmoreland.

We are told that at Rusea’s High School infrastructure repair work will not be completed in time for the new term. Issues related to the procurement process have resulted in delay. That, we suspect, may be the reality at other schools across the country.

Maybe what is required in such instances is for priority attention to given to those applications without compromising the rules. However, we cannot be satisfied with the level of unpreparedness indicated each year as it unsettles teachers, school administrators, students and parents at a time when they should be fully focused on the main reason for schools — equipping children with education.

In relation to the issue of teacher resignations, we can’t see any better way that the education ministry could have responded, especially given that many of those who decided to leave did so last month. In fact, even worse is that we are being told that others are giving notice this week in order to ensure that they receive their salaries for August. That’s not the most decent way to go about leaving a job.

All of these issues, though, point to the need for the country to get itself to a position — that is both economic and social — which will make it difficult for other nations to lure our teachers, and indeed other professionals, away.

People will always migrate, for varying reasons. No country in the world can stop that. However, the nations that manage their economies well and give priority to vitals services such as education, health, and security tend to experience less brain drain than those who struggle in those areas or simply ignore them altogether.

We need to get our house in order.