Schools across the island are to welcome back students tomorrow in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Education confirmed that all public and private schools are expected to resume normal operations after safety inspections and clean-up efforts.

Crystal Caesar, the Minister of Education, said: “The ministry extends its gratitude to the assessment teams and school staff for their dedication to ensuring a secure learning environment for students and educators.

“I am pleased to confirm that schools can safely reopen on Monday.

“I want to thank our parents and guardians for their patience, and our education professionals for their commitment to getting our schools back up and running.”

After-school programmes are also expected to resume as normal, along with public school buses.

The spokeswoman urged any school staff that were affected by the storm to notify their school leader, while the families of any students impacted should notify their school’s counsellor.

The reopening of schools comes as the island continues to bounce back from Hurricane Melissa, which blew past the island on Friday morning.

While more than 19,000 Belco customers lost power during Melissa’s passage, crews worked through the weekend to bring customers back online.

The number of customers still without electricity fell to below 600 by Saturday afternoon, and dropped to below 70 this afternoon.

Belco, however, warned customers that restoration efforts might cause some to temporarily lose power.

The company said on social media: “Please note that as restoration efforts continue, customers may experience temporary outages as crews de-energise circuits to safely effect repairs.

“As a result, outage numbers will fluctuate throughout this process.”