The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

PARENTS and guardians of evacuated children from Abaco and Grand Bahama have expressed their frustration with the school registration exercise held at the National Stadium yesterday.

Their complaints included long wait times and a lack of transparency as to when they would finally be able to complete the process, with some parents worrying it will take weeks for their children to finally be placed in a school.

However, Education Director Marcellus Taylor defended the registration yesterday. While acknowledging the parents’ anger and confusion, Mr Taylor said officials are doing their best to make registration easier by having multiple agencies conducting operations at the stadium.

“I understand people are frustrated,” Mr Taylor told The Tribune. “I understand that. But the same way they were displaced and have to now make adjustments, we have to make adjustments to the normal process of things.

“Normally, the ministry, the department, we don’t get involved in registration. That’s a school based activity. But in order to facilitate these persons who were displaced…and not to turn people around (to various agencies), we set up something to try to make it easier for them.”

On Tuesday, officials announced all children who have been displaced by Hurricane Dorian and are currently in New Providence will be placed in new schools by the Ministry of Education.

“No child in The Bahamas should be at risk of dropping out of school because of Dorian,” Education Minister Jeff Lloyd said in a statement released yesterday.

The Ministry’s statement also noted 10,000 displaced children have to be registered.

UNICEF representatives were also present yesterday to support the exercise.

School Registration Coordinator Zane Lightbourne yesterday outlined the impossibility of registering every child in a single day, especially as the process involves multiple government agencies.

Consequently, the first step is registering names and contact information so appointments can be made.

Mr Lightbourne added some people “ignored” the parameters that priority would be given to those from the shelters, not evacuees living elsewhere or locals who had not yet completed their child’s registration.

One mother who wished to remain anonymous said she was unaware that shelter victims would be given first preference. She was attempting to register her two children and two young cousins.

“We’re staying with a friend because…at least (staying with a friend provides) a little bit of normalcy for the kids,” she said. “We came from a shelter already in Abaco.

“So the (registration) process isn’t what I expected. I’d hoped…they would’ve had everything lined up where you could’ve gone to register the children in school.”

The mother added only her name and number were recorded.

“They said the next step would be that they would call us,” she said. “They haven’t given us a timeframe…. I asked and they said they don’t know. They’re trying to work with the crowd.”

Wilda Cadet, 22, tried to register her younger brother. Frustrated with the process, she left to attempt to register him directly at a school.

“They’re only taking your name and number and then they tell you it’s a lot of process you have to go through before they have to actually register you,” she said.

“So kids probably aren’t going to school probably until the last week in September.”

Mr Lightbourne outlined the procedure yesterday, noting it took approximately an hour for 20 people to complete the initial step of providing contact information.

“When that is complete, they go to health,” Mr Lightbourne said. “Health does the screening — audio, visual, immunization and test for communicable diseases.

“Once that screening finished, they go to education (for) the registration process, which will seek to put them in a school. Once that process is being done, once all that information is gathered, they see the other agencies like social services…youth and sports, they have to register for extracurricular activities.

“Once all of those agents stamp the application form in their particular area, those agencies send them back to be given a final letter to carry to the school, giving them entrance to the school.”

When asked how long these other processes take, Mr Lightbourne replied: “That estimation is difficult because it can’t be consistent. Some cases take longer than others…parents in some cases and four and five children.”

Mr Taylor also addressed parents’ concerns - particularly those of evacuees who are not staying in shelters. He added they were instructed to call ahead and make an appointment, to prevent swarms of people descending on the stadium.

“What we didn’t want to do was to create an inconvenience to individuals. Those people who live in the shelters, we are working with the shelter manager to say ‘we are registering people in this shelter for school. Give us 20 and a time and we will work with them’. Simultaneously, we don’t know how many people are out there living with relatives.

“The idea was really to deal with both groups simultaneously. But because so many people showed up…today, the effort was being made to try and deal with some of them on the spot but take as many of them today or tomorrow so they can be addressed…Some people in shelters weren’t registered today.

Regarding complaints, Mr Taylor said the registration process was designed to be a “one stop shop” to help evacuees.

“If they are coming from Abaco, if they don’t have immunization cards (and other documents). Even if they have those things, if there are public health concerns about people having cholera…and we want to just check to make sure everybody is fine for the public safety. How is this going to happen at a school?”