Having our school buildings upgraded and ready for the return of students and school staff is a priority for our Government.

Today, I will provide you with an update on the readiness of our school buildings for the 2018 – 2019 academic year which officially begins for all students on Monday, September 10th.

During the summer months, Government workers in the Ministries of Education and Workforce Development and Public Works carried out scheduled maintenance and building upgrades to improve our school facilities. The main purpose of this annual maintenance program is to carry out repairs that will ensure safe and healthy environments for our students, principals, teaching, and administrative staff.

We are in the final stage of repair work and cleaning at the majority of our public schools and I am pleased to report that we are on schedule to be fully operational and ready for our students on September 10th.

Significant repair and maintenance projects were undertaken to improve our school buildings.  These included:

• The installation of Wi-Fi and surge suppressors at all Primary Schools;
• The renovation of  male restrooms at Francis Patton Primary;
• The renovation of the male and female restrooms at Port Royal Primary;
• The renovation of the cottage at East End Primary;
• The fumigation of Dalton E. Tucker Primary
• The fumigation of  the assembly hall block at Purvis Primary;
• Installation of perimeter fencing at several schools;
• Hallway and classroom floor resurfacing projects at East End Primary, Harrington Sound Primary, Gilbert Institute and Purvis Primary;
• Additional maintenance at various school sites which included:
  • Pest control assessments and fumigation;
  • Fire alarm inspection, testing and installation;
  • Water fountain maintenance; and
  • Chlorination of water tanks at all schools.

All of our schools are expected to open on schedule, on September 10th so that our educators can fulfill our mission of providing all students with equitable access to holistic, varied and high quality instruction that is culturally relevant and empowers students to reach their full potential.

As I close, I want to extend a heartfelt “Thank you!” to the teams at the Ministries of Education and Workforce Development and Public Works who were tasked with maintaining, repairing and cleaning our schools. These projects required dedicated, focused and hard work and our teams rose to the challenge.

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