The first Secondary School in one of the country’s largest housing scheme, La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD), is set to be completed by the end of November 2020.
The $1B Westminister Secondary School is 84% completed according to a statement from the Ministry of Education. It was set to be completed at the end of January of this year but was plagued with several issues.
During a recent visit to the site, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said she will be paying close attention to the project since a whole generation of students had started and finished high school since the building of the school was first identified as a necessity.
The contract was inked on October 1, 2018, while construction began on October 18 of the same year by R. Bassoo and Sons Construction Inc. as the constructing company. The consulting firm is Deen and Partners/ SRKN Engineering.
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The Minister is looking forward to the completion of the school for the benefit of the children it will serve, the Ministry said in its statement.
The construction of the school is being funded by the World Bank through the Guyana Secondary Education Improvement Project (GSEIP) which began during the first quarter of 2015. The project aims to achieve universal secondary education.
Minister Manickchand was accompanied by Project Coordinator of the Guyana Secondary Education Improvement Project (GSEIP) Jimmy Bhojedat and the Regional Education Officer (Region Three) Ms Annesta Douglas.
When completed, the structure will be a model school that meets international standards, according to the Ministry.
The school will house 1000 students. The new school will cater for the growing population in Region Three with the emergence of a number of new housing schemes in that region.
It will also see the reduction of secondary departments in Primary schools (Primary Tops) in the region.
Students will be drawn from LaGrange, L’Aventure, Goed Fortuin and other areas within that catchment area, the Ministry said.
The Westminister Secondary school will have as part of its outfit, classrooms that caters for students with disabilities.
There will be modern Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) departments for Home Economics, Home Management and Clothing and textile. Added to the aforementioned departments, there will be an Information Technology, Mathematics, Language and Audio Visual laboratories. The school will also house Biology, Chemistry and Physics labs.
A Unit of Allied Arts, a modern Library, a multi-purpose hall and a modern administration block will complete this spanking new structure.
