Contingency plan in place

Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Santia Bradshaw, assures that the Ministry will continue to prepare for worst-case scenarios.

During a recent press conference, Bradshaw noted that while there was no certainty of what would happen if there was continued ashfall and they were not ready for schools to be opened on April 26, they were going to use their best efforts over the next few days to make sure they got the school plants ready.

“We will prepare for the best-case scenario, but we will continue to have contingencies just in case,” she said.

“Further considerations will be made if there is continued ashfall, but we still have the online as the backup and we will have to make some adjustments in terms of the time that the normal school days are.

“Necessary protocols will be put in place in the event that children are in the classrooms if ashfall occurs.”

The Minister went on to reveal that they had a number of Health and Safety committees at the various schools and there was a thrust in the last few months to try and get more of these committees established and fully functioning in addition to a number of training sessions that have occurred with UNICEF as well.

She went on to note that they had a number of ancillary workers at the schools doing the usual cleaning and preparation for school, but added that she was aware of the need to have a more technical set of expertise and more hands to help move all the ash from the premises.

It is against this backdrop that the Minister revealed that they were looking at various companies that will assist the Ministry with this cleaning project, in addition to the number of industrial workers and contractors that usually help the Ministry with its cleaning efforts.