FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - (KRT) - Hurricane Ivan has left 32,000 children in Grenada facing the prospect of learning their lessons under tents or tarp-patched roofs until the country can rebuild and repair. Fewer than 10 percent of Grenada's schools remain operational. Of the 58 primary schools, four roofs are intact. Only two of the 19 secondary schools are sound. Many families live in shelters, parents can't work and children are trying to stay busy. Rholanda Courtney, 14, has been reading a lot of detective novels since Hurricane Ivan closed schools in Granville. She's ready to go back. "I miss being in the classroom and I miss doing the work," said Rholanda. "I miss hanging out with my friends." At a recent CARICOM summit, leaders of neighboring nations proposed taking in at least the country's secondary students who need to prepare for standardized Caribbean exams used to advance children to the next grade or get them into college. But the idea didn't sit well with Grenada officials. "The government does not agree with Caricom's proposal. It is too disruptive," said Grenada's Education Minister Claris Charles. "Hopefully we will open school by Oct. 11. We want to put up tarps and tents." By the mid-October date, however, students will have missed five weeks of classes and there is no guarantee the schools will be up and running by then. Fewer than 100 children have been sent to relatives living on other islands to attend school, Charles said. However, many medical school students have left St. George's University to take classes elsewhere. Once they get the tents and tarps from the United Nations Children's Education Fund, the Grenadian government plans to expand remedial classes held on Saturdays and shorten Christmas and Easter vacations in order to give students enough classroom instruction, Charles said. They will also provide counseling for children, many of whom live in shelters with their families. Keeping the kids in the country is good news for Rholanda's father, Roland, who is reluctant to send his children to neighboring Trinidad and Tobago where he has friends and family members. "I'd rather they be home. They will adjust to the tent in time," said Courtney. "The kids will be here, sheltered and getting an education. I'm happy with that." Ivan spun on to disrupted the lives of thousands in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Jamaica's schools have been sporadically interrupted. Grand Cayman, a British Territory remains flooded. Despite several telephone calls, British officials could not be reached to comment on the island's education system. Meanwhile, Grenadian officials don't know when the country's schools will be fully operational. Some say it could take up to a year, depending on the amount of international aid the country receives. The idea of living and learning in another country didn't bother Rholanda as long as she could take her Nancy Drew books. She's been reading them since the floods. "I'm tired of being stuck in the house. Most of the time there is nothing to do," she said. "I would feel very good to be able to visit other countries to go to school. I would come home on holiday." SOURCE: THESTATE.COM (South Florida Sun-Sentinel correspondent Vanessa Bauza reported this story from Grenada.)