The Ministry of Education and Youth has commenced repairs at schools severely damaged during the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, made the disclosure during a post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday (July 31).

A total of 94 schools, which are classified as priority one, are deemed to have been severely damaged due to the hurricane’s impact.

“Almost 44,000 students attend these 94 schools, and we really want to ensure that they are able to access face-to-face school come September 2 [when the 2024/25 academic year starts],” Mrs. Williams stated.

The Minister said schools sustaining moderate damage have been classified as priority two.

“They will require significant repairs, but the scope of that damage suggests that schools can operate while the repairs are being done, and we have 126 of those schools. In priority three [we have institutions with] minor damage, and [those] schools can also operate while the repairs are being done… and we have 109 of those schools,” Mrs. Williams said.

“So, I am taking the time to go through this because we know, come September 2, certainly the press will be out there to see how well we’ve done. I just want to say [that]… for priority two and priority three schools, you may go to those schools and the work has not been done, and that’s because we’re saying that work can go on while schools operate during the course of the school year,” she added.

Mrs. Williams said the Ministry will be utilising the emergency procurement process to effect repairs to schools, adding that meetings have been held with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service on the matter.

“It is important to do this because emergency procurement is not a process that we have employed at the Ministry, at least not since I’ve been there, and so we want it to be guided. We are relying on the emergency procurement guidelines, as detailed in the Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Procedures and in particular the section on procedures for the procurement of goods, general services and works,” she indicated.

“We are guided by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service that this policy is a good policy on which we can stand. So, it allows us to do the emergency procurement for goods, services or works in any circumstance in which the national interest and our national security considerations demand that the procurement be undertaken immediately,” the Minister further stated.

Mrs. Williams noted that where an emergency situation exists, the procuring entity may engage a contractor by means of direct contracting, adding that contractors must be registered, possess a valid tax compliance certificate prior to their award, and the head of the procuring entity shall give approval for the issuing of emergency contracts up to a maximum value of $100 million.

“This approval shall be in writing and shall form part of the procurement record to be kept by the entity; and just [to] note [that] contracts awarded under emergency circumstances shall commence immediately. Failure to execute such contracts within one month of approval will result in automatic reversion to the general procurement provisions. So, you can see we are under significant time pressures here,” she stated.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry also assessed schools for the status of electricity, water and telecommunication services.

To date, a total of 223 schools have not yet been reconnected to the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) system, representing approximately 22 per cent of the institutions.

Mrs. Williams said the Ministry has compiled and sent the information within the last two days to Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Hon. Daryl Vaz, to bring to the attention of JPS.

She informed that these schools are located in Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James, Manchester and St. Elizabeth.

“We will be meeting with our Board Chairs and Principals again this week because we want our schools to begin to clean up early. We’re asking our Principals to begin no later than Monday, August 12, just in case in the process of the clean-up, items are discovered and need to be replaced or restored; and so, we are asking for this earlier deployment,” Mrs. Williams said.

She assured that the Ministry is committed to working with school Boards and Principals to enable the reopening of schools on Monday, September 2, for the new school year.

Meanwhile, Minister Williams expressed gratitude “to the many teachers and Principals who have been working assiduously already in the restoration efforts at the schools”.