Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams (centre) and officials tour the Government Industrial School at Dodds, St. Philip, today. (T. Barker/BGIS)

The female wards of the Government Industrial School (GIS), who are currently housed at the Barrows building in St. Lucy, are expected to be relocated to the GIS Dodds, St. Philip facility by next week.

This was disclosed following a tour this morning of the almost completed Phase one renovations being undertaken on existing structures at the St. Philip institution, which started in June of this year.

Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams, along with Ministry officials, GIS’ interim Principal, Catherine Jordan; Deputy Principal, Seilest Bradshaw; Chairman of the Board, Reverend Dr. Lucille Baird and Chairman of the inquiry panel and former Deputy Commissioner of Police, Oral Williams, was on hand to view the completed work on the buildings, in preparation to have the facility house both boys and girls.

“So you have seen the renovations we’ve done to make the Dodds facility a purposeful fit for the young ladies coming from Barrows as we amalgamate the two schools as best we can,” Minister Abrahams stated.

While pointing out that one of the recommendations coming out of the GIS inquiry panel was for the girls to be moved from the Barrows facility and it be closed down, he said the timely renovations are making that transition possible.

The Home Affairs Minister stated: “We didn’t just fix for the girls or in anticipation of the girls; we also just upgraded the entire facility, generally. [And] I want to give thanks for the project team and I want to commend the project team, the officials at the Ministry and the contractor for the work that was done.”

The tour, which was led by Home Affairs’ Senior Technical Officer, Malcolm Mapp, included viewing the renovations and retrofitting made to the educational block including the classrooms, resource centre, IT room and library; mess hall; staff lounge; health clinic; house mistress and welfare officers building; boys’ dormitory; overnight rooms and recreational rooms hall.

Some of the work completed involved replacing wooden structures with wall structures; installing new ceilings, doors, LED lighting fixtures, fans and screens; painting; upgrading camera systems; expanding existing structures and the retrofitting of two 20ft containers.

Interim Principal Jordan noted that although the girls and boys have separate dormitories there would still have some form of interaction in a “controlled way”.

She said: “We’re going to try to make sure that there are positive experiences and experiences that build self-esteem and self-respect.  And so they’ll be on the same compound, but we’re going to treat them in a way that each person feels a positive sense of self.”

Mr. Williams, as chair of the GIS advisory committee, gave his views following the tour. Pointing out that before today the committee had completed around seven visits to the facility, he stated: “And when we came here to Dodds, this place looked nothing like it looks like today. So, the Ministry has been working hard in trying to get the accommodations up and running and I’m very much impressed by what I’ve seen in the short space and time.”

The renovated Dodds facility at St. Philip has the capacity to house 30 boys and 24 girls. 

sheena.forde-craigg@barbados.gov.bb

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