Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Dr. Kasan Troupe, has advised that the number of shelterees on school compounds has reduced significantly.
Addressing Thursday’s (March 26) Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC) Press Conference, held at Shortwood Teachers’ College in Kingston, she said 93 shelterees are being housed across eight schools in western Jamaica, nearly five months after the passage of Category Five Hurricane Melissa.
“The highest number is still at Petersfield [High School] with 40 shelterees,” Dr. Troupe noted.
She said the Ministry has been working with shelterees, noting that the respective principals have put measures in place to accommodate them.
“The reality is we have had a very difficult time in our country and we have got to support the recovery process for the people of this country. The people who we are helping as shelterees, they are parents and relatives of the children in our schools. They are relatives of teachers who work in our schools, so they are not strangers to the community,” she explained.
Dr. Troupe shared that the Ministry understands the need for access to the entire school plant, highlighting that efforts are under way inter-ministerially to make that a reality in the shortest possible time.
“When we did the recovery efforts, we called out to the same people in our communities to come into our school compound and help with the clean-up efforts. The same people who are now in the shelters and those who have left, they participated in that and we are grateful, and so this is our time to give back and to support,” Dr. Troupe said.
She thanked principals, staff and students for their patience and reassured them that the institutions will be decommissioned as shelters soon.
