The Grand Bay Primary School will soon begin its reconstruction after benefitting from funding from the Canadian Government.
The Grand Bay Primary School was severely affected due to passage of Hurricane Maria in 2017, with the roof receiving significant damage.
The primary school, which was originally built by the Canadian Government forty eight years ago, will now be the beneficiary of funding made available once again by the Government of Canada.
Parliamentary Representative for the Grand Bay Constituency, Honourable Edward Registe stated that the school in its current state is not conducive for learning.
“The Grand Bay Primary School was originally built by the Canadian Government in 1971 forty eight years ago and the school has endured weather conditions from Hurricane David to Tropical Storm Erika and most recently Hurricane Maria. Hurricane Maria dealt the school a major blow and it’s in a rather dilapidated condition. However our students of almost two hundred from Grad Bay continue to occupy the building, but it’s really not conducive for learning or even for the safety of the students and teachers,” Minister Registe stated.
The Minister announced that over three million dollars has been made available by the Canadian Government through the Caribbean Development Bank for the reconstruction of the primary school.
"The Canadian Government, through the present Prime Minister, Mr. Justin Trudeau had no difficulty in providing money for the repairs to the school as well as more for other schools. So the Grand Bay Primary School will benefit from about 3.5 million dollars, but the entire project is an eight million dollar project. What will happen is that the school will be repaired by funding being made available through the Caribbean Development Bank,” the MP noted.
Minister Registe went on to highlight some of the new features that will be made to the school upon reconstruction.
“There are a number of amenities and new aspects that will be added to the school in hopes of improving it. There will be adjusted toilets for the students who will be accommodated on the lower level mainly the Kindergarten section and there will be bathrooms. So a lot of areas will be improved, from the designs that we have seen. There will be areas for eating, for home economics, as well as a computer lab and other features that the school did not have before. So that is being done,” he explained.
Minister Registe also added that steps are being taken to relocate students and teachers as construction nears, with the Grand Bay Youth Center being the number one option.
“The process right now is that very soon there will be tendering and so on to get the repair work done, so we still have some time to go. So at a PTA meeting earlier this month we were able to suggest that the youth center would be a better location at this time to relocate the students as quickly as possible. The youth center itself is not completed as yet and we have to seek some support from the Government to complete it, and we to bring it to a proper state so that we can get the students and staff to occupy it as soon as possible,” Minister Registe added.