Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Infrastructure Albert Jn Baptiste
The Education Ministry is in the process of putting together a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for schools, and Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Infrastructure Albert Jn Baptiste said he looks forward to commencing dialogue.
“I am hoping that very soon we could have dialogue with the Ministry of Education to have a sound or workable plan in terms of moving forward in order for the children to have a safe environment in which to learn,” he said.
Several public schools, including the Castries Comprehensive Secondary, are in dire need of repair, which Jn Baptiste said are being dealt with based on the availability of resources.
In explaining the situation at the Castries Comprehensive Secondary, he said:
“There is a section of the school where we had issues with the roof and that has been more or less been dealt with and there are plans to approach the CDB in dealing with this is a more holistic manner at the school.”
The chief engineer said he is expecting to receive a positive feedback from the CDB in the next few months.
Education Minister Dr. Gale Rigobert has said that putting together a comprehensive plan for school repairs will be no cheap undertaking because of the gap between what is required and what the government is able to accomplish.
“I understand that at the last fiscal cycle, when the audit of schools’ infrastructure was done, the estimated cost of the rehabilitation schools on the island hovered around EC $13 Million; the amount allocated in the 2016/2017 budget was EC $1 Million,” the Education Minister said after touring schools on the East Coast and in the South of the island.
Dr. Rigobert said she has received a detailed report on the state of school-infrastructure on the island and says she is particularly concerned about the issue of health and safety and the serious problem of mold and termites.
The minister has meantime thanked principals and teachers as well as parent and students for their patience and requested their continued support in addressing the infrastructural issues of schools on the island.
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