18 more schools now wheelchair accessible

A total of 18 schools have installed ramps under the National Education Trust (NET) 'ramps in schools' project. These include the St Ann's Bay Infant School, which was the National Labour Day project for education.

The project, which kicked off as part of the national Labour Day activities, came out of a motion moved in the Senate by Senator Floyd Morris. The National Education Trust was tasked by Minister of Education Ruel Reid to implement the project.

It is aimed at providing basic ramp access in 130 public schools over a period of one year, commencing on Labour Day 2018. The initial target was completing at least 14 schools on Labour Day.

That was surpassed with 18 completed by Labour Day. The remaining 112 will be done during the course of the year.

"We are committed to ensuring that while we seek to provide access for persons with physical disabilities, we do so using international standards," NET said in a press statement.

.... Some cannot accommodate a ramp

"In order to do this, we provided minimum specifications to be followed by contractors employed by the schools to build the ramps. Due to space constraints at some schools, the ratio used was one in 10, while in others, 2:2 the maximum specification of one in 12 was used. This means that for every foot of rise, you need 10 or 12 feet of ramp. This would either allow for a ramp to be built, allowing persons to wheel themselves up or down, or one that would require wheelchair-bound persons to be assisted."

The statement continued, "The reality is that there are persons who have been deprived of access, but some schools simply cannot accommodate a ramp that would allow total independence for a wheelchair user. In spite of this, we are committed to ensuring that wheelchair users have some level of access and do not have to suffer the indignity of being lifted up flights of stairs to gain access to our schools."

As part of its quality-control mechanism, the technical team of NET, along with the regional building officers of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will be carrying out verification checks. Where remedial works are required, it will ensure that these are carried out in a timely and efficient manner.

The project continues with the installation of rails, where required, and the building of the remaining ramps in the 112 schools.