Reggae legend Burning Spear has stepped in to assist the St Ann’s Bay Infant School which suffered extensive damage two months ago when a blaze engulfed three classrooms, bathrooms, and a storeroom.

Spear, through Mytania Samuels, his representative in Jamaica, donated $500,000 to administrators which will help with their rebuilding programme.

Contributions also came from Grammy winner Kabaka Pyramid, Julian Schmidt of the German website, Reggaeville, Uppsala Reggae Festival in Sweden, and Sound System Club of London.

Since 2017, Debbie Parsons-Morris has been principal of the school which has 171 students, ages two to six years old. She welcomed the gesture from Spear, who is from St. Ann’s Bay.

“This means the world to St Ann’s Bay Infant School. We had a fire on June 20 and we would have lost all the resources on one block, and it seemed impossible to start school in September without those resources. Getting these funds we will be able to replace some of those resources…it is a good start and I’m most grateful,” she said.

Parsons-Morris disclosed that repairs have commenced at the school which is expected to start its new term on September 11.

Born Winston Rodney, Burning Spear is synonymous with St Ann parish, which is also the birthplace of pan-African icon Marcus Garvey.

Two of his most famous albums, Marcus Garvey and Garvey’s Ghost, were released by Island Records in the mid-1970s when the roots-reggae movement was in high gear.

In recent years, Burning Spear has played the role of philanthropist by making financial donations to schools and other facilities in St Ann in need of assistance.