Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

Students at the Morant Bay Primary School in St Thomas try to settle down during their first day of the new school year yesterday. Principal Esther McGowan said classrooms were flooded by the rain during the storm, which stalled their preparations for the new school year. - Norman Grindley/Acting Photography Editor

It was not business as usual for thousands of students in St Mary who were forced to stay at home yesterday because their schools were damaged by Tropical Storm Gustav, which pounded the island last week.

The new school term was scheduled to begin on Monday, but the Ministry of Education pushed the start date back to Wednesday, to allow schools and parents to better prepare themselves.

But Islington High, Port Maria Primary and Tacky High could not reopen their doors yesterday because of structural damage, severe flooding and water woes.

At the Port Maria Primary School, the staffroom, canteen and all classrooms on the ground floor were flooded, as the neighbouring river overflowed its banks and washed up water and sand on to the compound.

Principal Vivene Irvin said ancillary and other staff members cleaned the rooms between Saturday and Tuesday.

Mud lake

She noted that while the classrooms were 90 per cent ready, classes could not be resumed because the schoolyard had been transformed into a mud lake. It was expected that representatives from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management would clear the yard of the mud and sanitise the area.

Irvin said the grade-one students who are sitting the Ministry of Education's Grade One Individual Learning Profile Test are being accommodated at Port Maria High School.

She said that if classes could not commence on Monday, the school would have to work out a system for students who are to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test in March.

Meanwhile, at Tacky High School, men worked feverishly to repair a damaged roof.

Errol Bascoe, principal of the school, said every classroom was leaking prior to the passage of the tropical storm. He noted that the school was damaged during hurricanes Ivan and Dean in 2004 and 2007, respectively, and the situation worsened with Gustav.

The reading and mechanical engineering laboratories were flooded and Bascoe said this could affect students' preparation for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations.

The education ministry said that activities went fairly smoothly yesterday.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com