Makeshift classrooms are being erected at the Ocho Rios Primary School in St Ann, to ensure that more than 1,100 students can return to a single-shift school when the 2026-27 academic year begins in September.

Parliamentary Secretary in the education ministry, Senator Marlon Morgan, made the statement on Monday during a tour of schools across St Ann to assess the progress of restoration and reconstruction works following the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa last year. The school officially transitioned off the shift system to a single-shift, traditional all-day schedule in September 2024.

Fire severely damaged the school on June 26. The fire gutted a major classroom block, a library, a physical education room, and four grade-two classrooms.