The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has stepped up efforts to restore education and support the emotional well-being of thousands of children affected by Hurricane Melissa.

More than 650 schools serving approximately 150,000 students are experiencing significant disruption.

Working closely with the Government and local partners, UNICEF is focusing on creating safe, child-friendly learning environments while helping students and teachers recover from the storm’s psychological impact.

UNICEF says it is supporting the Education Ministry to enable continuity of learning and has participated in a high-level education meeting with CARICOM to discuss best practices for education in emergencies, current needs in the sector, and planned activities.

The agency notes that it is supplying more than 1,000 tarpaulins and hundreds of learning kits to help re-establish safe, child-friendly spaces.

A total of 105 classroom tents, along with printed learning packets aligned to the curriculum are being distributed to ensure teaching can continue despite damaged infrastructure.

In addition, grants for school repairs will support at least ten institutions benefiting nearly 10,000 students as well as their parents and teachers.

To protect children’s health, UNICEF has supported the restoration of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools and emergency shelters.

Meantime, teachers are receiving specialized training in mental health and psycho-social support, equipping them to guide students through the emotional challenges following the disaster.

Psycho-social first-aid activity booklets have also been developed for students from early childhood through secondary school to aid in their recovery, as part of an overall series of mental health and psycho-social support interventions targeting more than 100,000 students and their families.

Six hundred teachers from the most affected schools will be trained in the Return to Happiness (RTH) methodology to strengthen their own recovery and enable them to provide enhanced guidance to some 18,000 students.

The Guidance and Counselling Unit of the Ministry will train an additional 450 counsellors and volunteers to support delivery of more in-depth psycho-social recovery to at least 5,500 of the most affected students and families.