CATEGORY:EDUCATION/SCHOOLS
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By Trevor Thwaites (Inside Grenada correspondent)


ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - Two years after Hurricane Ivan ravaged the nation’s schools, the Ministry of Education says that the education infrastructure is slowly but surely being rebuilt. According to officials, over EC$200 million EC dollars have to date being spent on its school rehabilitation programme, which has been made possible with the assistance of friendly governments, donor agencies and organizations.

The Ministry of Education has been working closely with several donors including the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Officials say that the rehabilitation efforts will require the complete rebuilding of some schools as well as extensive rehabilitation of others. The Grenada Boys Secondary School (GBSS) is being replaced as a modern facility that will be used as a model for other secondary schools.

Work is in progress on the facility costing some EC$10 million. Another EC$2 million have been earmarked for the Hillsborough Secondary, now under construction, while the Belair Government School in the sister isle, costing EC$2.7 million is nearing completion. With 85% of the school stock destroyed by Hurricane Ivan, the task of building back better is certainly a gigantic one, because many countries, donor agencies and organizations have not honoured their pledges to provide financial support.

Project Coordinator in the Ministry of Education, Perron Johnson, said that some of the initial plans had to be scaled down and concentrate on the hardest hit institutions because a lot of the pledges made did not materialize. Nonetheless she said that quite a number of schools have benefited from the rehabilitation programme. Presentation’s College is 90% complete, Concord Government, Grenville Secondary, St Mark’s Secondary, Park View Pre School, South St George Government and phase one of Mc Donald College have already being completed.

Work on phase two of Mc Donald College, Happy Hill Secondary, Woburn Pre-Primary and the School for the deaf is currently in progress. Education officials have also disclosed that temporary classrooms have been completed at the GBSS, TAMCC, St Mark’s Secondary and SAASS. However Johnson said that because of a financing gap of EC$70 million, the ministry has been forced to concentrate on the hardest hit institutions. However she pointed out that the ministry is intensifying its efforts to ensure that all schools are attended to in the quickest possible time.