JTA Warns Western Jamaica Schools Still Unsafe Months After Hurricane Melissa

Months after Hurricane Melissa swept through western Jamaica, the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) says pupils and educators are still operating in buildings it considers unsafe and unsuitable for daily teaching and learning.

JTA President Mark Malabver renewed the warning after association members, joined by representatives from the American Federation of Teachers, toured schools in Westmoreland, St. Elizabeth, and St. James last week. Malabver said the state of the facilities they saw was deeply disturbing.

He accepted that recovery from the storm brings genuine challenges, but argued those difficulties can no longer be offered as a reason for leaving staff and students in harmful conditions. The union is also troubled by what he described as the sluggish progress of repair work.

Malabver said the JTA has once more written to the Ministry of Education to press its concerns.