School repairs over Xmas

Repairs will be done at more than 40 schools over the Christmas vacation.

The Ministry of Education said while all schools are closed several contractors would be busy working on repairs.

Education Minister Anthony Garcia said the early start to the December Vacation Repairs Programme is designed to ensure that all schools are ready for reopening of the new term on January 8.

Garcia said he is optimistic that all repairs will be completed on time, and students and teachers will not be inconvenienced in any way.

“Despite the prevailing economic challenges, the ministry continues to address infrastructural, electrical, sewer, air conditioning and other problems at our schools. To this end, the ministry has allocated adequate funding for the December Vacation Repairs Programme. Additionally, more than $50 million was spent on more than 145 projects during the July-August 2017 vacation period,” Garcia said.

He said under emergency repairs, 43 projects were completed from September to November at a cost of approximately $8 million.

“Most of these were sewer-related. However, quite a few of these sewer problems were identified as cases of sabotage,” he said.

Garcia strongly condemned the deliberate acts of vandalism.

“I had no clue why anyone would want to create such a situation which would result in children being kept away from school. The St Joseph Girls’ RC School was closed after items of clothing were found in the pipes leading to the sewer system. Contractors also experienced and reported similar experiences at the Charlieville Government and Arouca Government primary schools.”