Repairs and upgrades to primary and nursery schools this summer are seeing a near 100 per cent increase in expenditure this year.
According to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, it will spend close to $2 million to carry out repairs at public primary schools.
This is as a result of Government???s agreed additional budget to the upkeep of these schools granted for the current financial year.
The 24 primary schools included in the core programme that falls under the Ministry are: All Saint???s Primary, Bayley???s Primary, Eden Lodge Nursery, Ellerton Primary, Gordon Greenidge Primary, Hillaby Turners Hall Primary, Hindsbury Primary, Mount Tabor Primary, Olga Millar Nursery, Selah Primary, St. Christopher Primary, St. Giles Primary, St. Joseph Primary, St. Judes Primary, St. Lawrence Primary, St. Lucy Primary, St. Mark???s Primary, St. Mary???s Primary, St. Silas Primary, St. Stephen???s Nursery, St. Stephen???s Primary, Thelma Berry Nursery, Vauxhall Primary and Wesley Hall Infants Schools.
The refurbishment programme will address a number of roofs requiring either change of sheeting or structure or both, and the repair or replacement of ceilings, floors, windows and doors. Additionally, there will be attention in certain instances to bathrooms, nutrition areas, electrical rewiring and to storage improvements.
Project Manager of the Education Project Implementation Unit (EPIU), Richard Harrison noted that the repairs which started on Monday, July 7, were targeted to end on Friday, August 21, in time for school which officially re-opens on Monday, September 1, for teachers and Monday, September 7, for students.
???As usual, this is to give principals and teachers at least a full week of availability to the completed sites before the children return to their classrooms and to ensure everything is satisfactory,??? said Mr. Harrison.
The Project Manager also reported that under the current loan entered into with the Caribbean Development Bank ??? The Education Sector Enhancement Project II, the Ministry was completing works on the provision of additional classrooms to a further six schools, which are pressed for space.
These include Arthur Smith, Cuthbert Moore, Lawrence T. Gay, Luther Thorne, West Terrace and Wilkie Cumberbatch. These projects additionally represent a collective investment of approximately $900,000 to the immediate improvement of the schools.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb