ST GEORGE'S, GRENADA (CARIBUPDATE): Education officials are seeking to kick start classes in schools here, more than a month after they were halted by a ravaging Hurricane Ivan. It was on the second scheduled day of the new school year that Ivan struck, and with buildings severely damaged classes have been out since. Now the projection is for most schools to resume with some type of classes by Monday with makeshift arrangements. Education officials say the challenge is a whole new experience and they will virtually have to "make this up as we go along." Education Minister Claris Charles said it would not be easy to get the schools running again but she is determined to see at least some schools resume next week. She said engineers from UNICEF and other agencies have inspected the schools and assessed that on a scale of one to five, with five as the worst, most schools fell into the three to five category. Where temporary repairs cannot be done, students will be housed under tents while other structures are to be covered with tarpaulins. Many schools are being cleaned and the next step will be to sanitize the buildings that are usable. In some instances private homes not demolished by the hurricane are being considered for use as classrooms, and the principal of the well-known Sunny Side Primary School began classes this week at his home. The Ministry of Education is also faced with the task of finding basic tools such as chalk and dusters, pens and markers -- all destroyed during the hurricane. It has also approached CARICOM countries to help with the provision of furniture. Government will also have to turn its attention to the school-feeding programme and Minister Charles said they anticipate that the number of students who will be seeking a hot lunch at school will increase dramatically. In an attempt to help the school system return to a state of normalcy, the Ministry of Education said it is also addressing the housing needs of teachers. "Those who have lost their roofs will be given tarpaulins to cover so them so that they can tend to their duties in the classroom without worrying about their homes," an official said. The Venezuelan Government has also adopted 23 schools that will be repaired by them. Meantime, Charles is discouraging parents from sending their children off-island to attend school even in the aftermath of the near complete destruction of most of the island's schools. The Ministry of Education has however given transfer recommendation letter to the parents of almost 100 students who are seeking to enroll their children in schools around the Caribbean in the wake of Hurricane Ivan. Charles said while her department cannot stop parents from sending their children overseas, she believes it would be harder for them to adjust to life in another island. Many students are being sent to Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. “I believe it would be harder for a child to adjust to life in another island that life under a tarpaulin somewhere in Grenada," she said here. CARICOM countries have offered to host Grenadian form five and from six students in an effort to keep them on course with preparing for their external examinations at the end of the school year. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM