ST Elizabeth, Jamaica— Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, says that eight schools in St Elizabeth that were severely damaged during the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 3 are high on the Ministry’s priority work list.

“We must do work to get them ready for September. Without a doubt, simply eyeing the damage that’s there, you can see that it is severe in all these schools,” the minister pointed out, after a damage assessment tour of the schools on Wednesday.

The schools visited by the minister and other members of the education ministry were Munro College, Hampton School, Bethlehem Primary, Bull Savannah Primary, Top Hill Primary, Mayfield Primary, Pedro Plains Primary and Sandy Bank Primary.

Williams commended the principals of the institutions for initiating clean-up activities at the schools.

“We want to commend the principals who have gathered their parents together to begin the clean-up of the schools, because [it] is important to get the mindset back and to get persons thinking again about school reopening and so on,” she said.

The minister informed that the Education Ministry is moving with urgency to ensure that the schools are repaired.

“I know from the perspective of the Ministry that we have to begin the major work that is needed, mostly work on the roofs. Every school we went to showed us a problem with their roof, [also] flooding in the classrooms and so on,” she said.

“So, we have to get the roofs fixed so that schools have a chance of reopening again, and these are some of the worst-hit schools that we have visited,” the minister noted.

During a recent press conference, Williams informed that assessments indicated that some 309 primary and secondary schools sustained an estimated $2.7 billion in damage during the hurricane’s passage.

The schools are being repaired based on the Ministry’s three-tiered priority list. Some 85 schools with damage estimated at $1.42 billion form part of priority one on the list.

Some 110 schools, which sustained moderate damage, have been placed in priority two, while 114 schools, which sustained minimal damage, have been placed in the third tier.

Accompanying Williams on the tour were Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining and Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth South Eastern, Franklin Witter; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Kasan Troupe; and Regional Director for the Ministry in Region 5, Susan Nelson Smith, among others.

-JIS