Back-to-school jitters

On the brink of the new school year, Vince Williams, principal of Tulloch Primary in Bog Walk, St Catherine, is anxious as the institution is not fully prepared to welcome its students.

While acknowledging that the school is in a far better state than last year, when it struggled with rat and termite infestation, he highlighted lingering infrastructural problems, such as collapsing ceilings and unsuitable windows, which he said public health inspectors have already flagged for attention.

There is also the need for new furniture, he told The Sunday Gleaner, as he swept away termite dust from a teacher’s desk in the grade four classroom last Friday.

“Over the years, the facilities have been allowed to run down,” he said of the decades-old school. “We are now using the funds of the school to take care of those things and getting sponsorship. So we are in a better position today than we were last year before the beginning of school.”

Last September, a Sunday Gleaner report revealed that the 340-student school was overrun by rats. In response, Williams said the Ministry of Education allocated $1.3 million to assist with urgent repairs. Additional efforts have come from the school’s chairman and local fundraising initiatives, which have funded repairs to the canteen and some doors.

However, much more is needed.

“We still have a situation where you have flush toilets that are not working – the bowls need to be replaced,” the principal said.

Williams disclosed that he has been writing constantly to the Ministry of Education, alerting them to the needs of the school.

Furniture was damaged

by the termites

“Up to last week, I wrote my third requisition to the ministry, asking now for 150 desks and chairs,” he said, noting that a lot of the school’s furniture was damaged by the termites.

“I also had to ask for other things, send me those things, especially the teachers’ desks and chairs, because though we have contacted Food For The Poor and we’re seeking those kind of help, those things take time,” he said.

Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon has announced $628 million for school maintenance in the 2025-2026 academic year. Of this, 202 schools affected by termites and structural issues are set to benefit. An additional $2 billion will go towards schools damaged by Hurricane Beryl.

Earlier this year, the ministry also unveiled a $4.5 billion infrastructure programme that includes classroom construction, retrofitting bathrooms, adding accessibility features, and upgrading electrical systems.

Sophia Forbes-Hall, regional director for Region Six in the Ministry of Education, confirmed that Tulloch Primary is part of the ministry’s ongoing infrastructure plan and that work has started on the school since last school year.

Stage-by-stage basis

“We have been updating the infrastructure on a stage-by-stage basis,” she said. “We have done significant work already and we are continuing with that work. ... [Because] the student population has decreased, we have space within which we can continue the work within the school year.”

To date, she said the ministry has done an intensive termite treatment, replaced classroom partitions which were partly eaten by the pests, replaced furniture, as well as work on the school’s canteen.

“That school is one of those schools that we continue to improve on its infrastructure,” she said. “But right now given the availability of the team, we are prioritising those projects in schools that we would have to complete before the students return.”

Kenrick Bennett, principal of the Lucky Valley Primary School, aso in St Catherine, was busy wrapping up his final staff meeting when The Sunday Gleaner visited last Friday. He expressed satisfaction with his preparation for the reopening of school tomorrow.

Three months ago, his school was treated for termite infestation by the Ministry of Health, a measure that he said has brought relief to the rural institution.

Currently, he said he is in the process of changing out some old furniture to prevent the insects from resurfacing too quickly.

His only concern, he said, is the ongoing challenge many students face getting to school. Serving 126 pupils from communities such as Prospect, Riversdale, and Bog Walk, Bennett lamented the poor road conditions that make the daily commute difficult.

“So, even this year, we would have gotten more children from Penn, Prospect and from Riversdale side. So, we have students who register here and parents call to say, ‘We cyaa badda send di child because we do not have a taxi service from Riversdale’,” he said.

Many students are forced to walk to and from school, Bennett stated. And while he would like the institution to benefit from the Rural School Bus Programme, he doubts its feasibility given the narrow roads and the limited number of students who would need transportation.

Instead, Bennett said he will be advocating for a small minibus to transport students who live outside of the community.

Most of the students at the Mount Hermon Primary and Infant School in Riversdale also walk to school, but in their case, it is mainly a matter of convenience, Principal Alvin Walker explained, as a majority are from the community.

On Friday, he was overseeing last-minute touches to the school; the walls were painted, classrooms were being cleaned, and lawns mowed and swept.

There was only one issue, he said.

“I was just hoping that we would have gotten some furniture. You know, that’s really our main challenge at the moment. We have made a requisition for furniture from some time in the last term, early in the last term. And so far, I’ve not seen any,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Walker said he is in need of 15 desks and chairs to comfortably accommodate the 143 students enrolled at the institution.

“Because the first week is going to be a little short, I’m not really expecting that we have the full turnout of students, you know, with the election and all of that,” he said.

However, by the second week, he hopes to receive additional furniture from another school in the region to help address the shortfall.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com