Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
The roofs of buildings at Vere Technical High School, which were damaged by Hurricane Ivan's bluster on September 10, 2004. Many schools islandwide have still not been repaired since the disaster. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
MORE THAN one year after Hurricane Ivan ripped through the island damaging hundreds of schools, some are yet to be repaired.
Alphansus Davis, principal of Spaldings High School in Clarendon, yesterday said sections of his school that were damaged by the hurricane, have not been repaired.
He noted that the damaged windows of the industrial arts building are still not repaired, forcing students to shift to other areas whenever it rains. He also told The Gleaner that the roof of the building is still leaking.
In his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate last Friday, Senator Noel Monteith, State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, said approximately 742 schools and other educational institutions were damaged by Hurricane Ivan.
He noted that a majority of them were repaired but the remaining ones will be transferred to the Education Transformation Team for repairs.
The Education State Minister explained that the money to refurbish the remaining 289 schools would come from the $5 billion that was transferred from the National Housing Trust (NHT) to assist with the funding of the education transformation process.
"Schools that had hurricane damage, along with other schools that had critical repairs, have since been transferred to the education transformation team where some 289 schools are being repaired in phase 1," Senator Monteith told the Senate.
Meanwhile, Mr. Davis said the roof of the 'holding area' at his school, which is used for hosting functions, has been damaged for more than 10 years.
Mr. Davis, who is also the president of the Association of Principals and Vice-principals, said he has been asking the Ministry of Education to assist with repairing the area.
He said the ministry visited the school in 2004 when the roof was removed and he was promised that the necessary repairs would have been done.
The principal said as a result of the damaged roof, the students have not had a prize-giving ceremony in two years and have to stand in the sun for devotion each morning.
A BREAKDOWN OF FUNDING FROM THE VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS FOR REPAIRS OF SCHOOLS DAMAGED BY HURRICANE IVAN
USAID - $323m
MOEY&C - $68m
BNS - $11.5m
CHASE - $40m
JSIF - $110m
ONR - $200m
ONR/Digicel - $24m
Total - $676.5m
