Cyclone Harold Interviews: South Pentecost Schools Coordinator
Channel: tanbokproject
Date: 2020-05-17

There are 8 primary schools, 18 kindies and 1 secondary school under Priscilla’s remit. She has been in the position for 18 years, of which 11 years have been in this post. In this whole time, Priscilla says that there have been challenges but these now seem dwarfed in comparison to this disaster. This is the hardest challenge they have ever faced. 

Some schools have been wiped out completely. Ranmawot has lost all the staff houses and some of the classrooms. One of the classrooms was used as an evacuation centre. In Pangi Primary School, one classroom and the library were completely destroyed. Two classrooms were okay, and are still being used as evacuation centres. All the teachers’ houses have been destroyed. In Londar, all of the teacher houses have gone. Two classrooms are still being used as shelters/ temporary accommodation. In Point Cross all the teacher houses have gone. There is one new classroom which is still standing and being used as a temporary accommodation. The library has been destroyed and they have lost all of their books. In Baie Barriere they have lost all of the teachers’ houses and all classrooms bar one classroom double building. One classroom is also been used as temporary accommodation. In Saint Henri, they’ve lost the teachers’ houses. One classroom lost its roof, and the principal’s roof also got blown off. In Lonfis, there is nothing left of the school. The kindy has also been completely destroyed. 

A lot of the kindies have recently had UNICEF built toilets which were thankfully largely unscathed. They’re lucky but these are small toilets for children and therefore cannot be used for the rest of the community. 

Priscilla states it is an unprecedented challenge that they now face. Teachers are currently living in the classrooms, as their houses have been destroyed. This means school cannot be resumed as the teachers are inhabiting the learning spaces. In turn, this means that the first step in order for school to resume is to find somewhere safe to accommodate the teachers. The teachers will be under significant stress so they will need to be settled and happy enough to be able to face the challenge of resuming their duties (or this will impact the quality of the work that the teachers are able to perform). Priscilla wants a decent standard of living for the teachers to ensure decent quality of teaching. 

The next stage is to rebuild the classrooms. This is a problem because the budget that these schools get from the government is nowhere near enough to fund the rebuilding of classrooms. This is going to be a major cause of stress for herself, principals and teachers. Books and stationery were stored in cupboards, but the storm opened the cupboards and destroyed or damaged the materials inside. This means that they are unusable which presents an additional challenge. 

At the time of the cyclone, this zone of schools was ranked the top of the province. Now they have lost all of the infrastructure that has made this possible. Priscilla states that they will do their best to stay strong and do their best to fulfil their duties as outlined by the government. Priscilla adds that there was one injury to a teacher in Londar but the teacher is now recovering. 

A more pressing issue is that now is the point in time when their staple food, Taro, is beginning to regrow but is in an inedible stage of its cycle. Priscilla states that, unless they get help with food, they will face a malnutrition problem which will affect their ability to resume school, too, as children that are malnourished will be less able to learn. Priscilla believes the recovery will depend on what people do next. If people plant fast growing crops now, in three months time there will be food; however, this depends on them planting crops now. 

In terms of getting  back to normal, one year will not be enough. 2-3 years may begin to show some semblance of normality/ people returning to normal routines; however, this depends on everything re-growing especially materials used for building houses and structures.

Priscilla ends by requesting the government sends its response teams to Pangi as she feels the response teams have been focussed on Melsisi and the areas surrounding Melsisi so far. It is important that the government does not forget about this area and distributes aid equally across the island. She sends a plea to anyone with the heart to help them rebuild the precious, but fragile, jigsaw of their school community. Priscilla states that they are really in need and would be grateful for anything that might help.