PNP: Gov’t failed to plan for school reopening - Opposition cites safety, deadline concerns as repairs lag

The People’s National Party (PNP) has accused the Government of “building narratives” to cover up a failure to properly plan for the new school year, pointing to widespread delays in school renovations across the country as evidence of poor strategic management.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, PNP President Mark Golding said the fact that only 57 of the 313 severely damaged schools have been fully repaired is evidence that no “sensible” plan was in place to address the issue before the beginning of the new academic year.

“Why was the JDF (Jamaica Defence Force) and its engineering corps not fully integrated into the process? Why were the master builders and the engineers of Jamaica not asked, out of a sense of civic duty, to help in the call for sorting out the problem that this hurricane left behind?” he asked.