News

School in the pits

The students at the Newcomb Valley Primary School in St. Elizabeth.

SEVENTY STUDENTS; leaking roofs; no doors; small pit latrines. No one would guess these are the features of the Newcomb Valley Primary School in St. Elizabeth.

"What if one of the children should fall in (toilets)? That is what I am thinking of. We need the proper facilities here," said Mrs. G. Surf, a teacher at the school.

Distress sign

When THE STAR first visited the school, two months ago, the first tell-tale sign that the school was in distress, were the adjoining rocks that served as a road. When the team arrived at the school, they did not have a door; many of their windows were missing, and hidden behind the school, were the pit toilets.

Mrs. Surf said she hoped the enrolment would improve, but doubted it. "The people in the community won't send their children to the school because we don't get passes for schools like Munroe and the others like that. They think that if the children have to take a taxi there, then it's a school."

When asked what she thought the reason was for this, she said they did not have the textbooks for the children. "The parents just won't buy the books for them," said Surf.

When Mrs. Smurf took THE STAR on a tour of the school's library, the four shelves with a few books were not much to speak of. She, however, said they had more books which had been put away in cupboards to protect them during the passage of Hurricane Ivan.

The principal, Dalbert Smith, said they had not been in touch, before and after Hurricane Ivan, with most of the government agencies to assist the school. "We had contacted Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), and the contractors started some of the repairs, but then it stopped," he said.

A representative of JSIF said Newcomb Valley fell under the Hurricane Project, and though the roof had been repaired, the ceiling needs to be done. "The contractors gave a costing for the roof, and it was approved by the board. They now need to go to the board for approval, and as soon as this is done, then the ceiling will be repaired," she said.

Two residents said they were not pleased with the performance of the school and the teachers. "Them not going on with anything. Is just because I can't afford to send my daughter to one of the other schools why she don't go," one said.

Another resident, however, said she thought the school was a good one. "There are just two teachers there and they try their best. The people around here do not support the principal. If something needs to be done to the school, they do not help out."