With the start of the 2016 Hurricane Season a few weeks away the wounds are still fresh in the minds of a large number of Bahamians due to the significant impact and loss due to Hurricane Joaquin.

Hurricane Joaquin was a devastating storm that ravaged much of the out island infrastructure with schools suffering a large part of the damage ,but according to Minister For Education Jerome Fitzgerald the majority of these schools have been repaired.

“From my perspective I finished all of my repairs very early, I didn’t wait for NEMA, I repaired all the schools throughout the islands very quickly out of my own budget,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

He added that even though most of the issues on the out-island schools are fixed there remains one island in particular that still is facing some problems.

“Unfortunately Crooked Island is still a major concern, a lot of the population with regards to the kids are still in New Providence and some are in Grand Bahama and we’re not sure whether or not they will return and so even though we have repaired both schools there, all of the kids are only in one school because there are not that many of them”

“We turned over the other school to local government for them to use in order to administer the repair work and oversee it, so we’ll watch during the summer to see what the enrollment is like”

“We have the numbers for the students and parents and we will be in contact with them to evaluate whether or not they will be returning, so we’ll know whether or not we can continue to use one school or tell the local government they have to return the building to us, “Mr. Fitzgerald said.

The National Emergency Management Agency was heavily criticized for what most persons described as a late response in the transport of relief and supplies to the majority of the southern islands.

According to officials Hurricane Joaquin caused over $100 million dollars in damage.