Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT, through the Ministry of Education and Culture, is to spend $300 million, to repair and upgrade schools for the academic year 2000/2001.
According to the Ministry, repair and maintenance of the schools will be the top priority in preparation for the schools' opening in September. A significant part of the repair programme will focus on sanitary conveniences, water tanks, general maintenance and electrical work. This, according to the Ministry, is in keeping with its annual summer repair programme.
"The total sum to be spent is $300 million," said Edwin Thomas, the Ministry's information officer. "Schools will qualify for assistance on a need and priority basis. So, there might be a lot of activity in a particular region, but the funds go where the greatest needs are."
The 1998-1999 Estimates of Expenditure detailed that in the financial year, March 1,1998 to March 31, 1999, $11.2 million was spent to repair and maintain primary schools. High, secondary and comprehensive high schools used up $416.9 million in the same year, for a total expenditure of $428 million.
Schools with the greatest need at time, according to the Ministry, are primary and junior high schools. The primary and junior high schools are being upgraded under the Reform of Secondary Education (ROSE) programme, to have a standardised curriculum used in all schools under the umbrella of primary and junior high schools. The schools were formerly primary and all-age schools, going from grades one to nine. A complete overhaul of their administrative blocks, resource and technology centres are listed as priority.
Last week Mr. Thomas said he was unable to say how many different level schools will be repaired, or which of the Ministry's six regional operating areas are to receive most attention.
The Ministry's operations have been regionalised since 1996 with the Heroes Circle office in Kingston dealing with macro issues, curriculum development, setting educational standards and planning.
Meanwhile, another area to receive attention, the Ministry said, is the laboratories of the former comprehensive high schools.
"The science laboratories of former comprehensive schools are to be upgraded with modern facilities," Mr. Thomas explained.
Many of the laboratories are in need of extensive repairs, with some needing an almost complete remake.
Claney Barnett, principal of the former Haile Selassie Comprehensive High School, now a high school, said her school's laboratory is slated for upgrading but the work has not yet started and there is no deadline for completion.
"We have a laboratory, but over the years, it was not maintained. As far as I understand the facilities are to be improved," she said.
Mr. Thomas said funding for the repair programme is being provided through a collaborative effort between the Jamaican and British governments. The British Government's contribution is through its Department for International Development, its overseas aid agency.
