More students, not enough classrooms at Holland Primary

HOLLAND, St Elizabeth — Space is tighter than ever at Holland Primary School in this parish because even as administrators struggle to find enough classrooms, students who temporarily joined after last year’s hurricane have opted to officially enrol. The school needs five classrooms to comfortably accommodate its 215 students but only three are available now. “Our population increased after Hurricane Melissa, because we got students from some other schools that were more compromised than ours.

The students came here and they liked us and they didn’t return to their previous school,” Principal Simone Doctor told the Jamaica Observer Monday. Holland Primary School Principal Simone Doctor standing beside an abandoned classroom block on Monday. (Photos: Naphtali Junior) She said a wooden structure donated by Food For the Poor Jamaica in 2010 was destroyed last October during the passage of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa.

“It is only the base that is there now. We got 15 wonderful years from the structure,” she said wistfully. Doctor also spoke of the need to replace two structures, including an adjoining mould-infested classroom block, with a modern two-storey building.

A mould-infested classroom at Holland Primary School in St Elizabeth “It was the original school, called the nog; the material it is made from is not cement and steel. The Ministry of Education is not repairing these old structures anymore, so the idea is to basically remove this building and reconstruct it,” she told the Observer. “Every sheet of zinc went from the building.

We still have tarpaulins on this building and we were using it, but the building is very much compromised now with the mould that is growing in here. Within five minutes of entering you will have a headache. The mould is an issue; it is still leaking.

We have tarpaulin, but I suppose sections on it are compromised,” the school administrator added. She said the only habitable structure at the school has three classrooms on the main building. The abandoned classroom block at Holland Primary School in St Elizabeth (Photos: Naphtali Junior) “This building was completely re-roofed.