President Dr Irfaan Ali on Thursday announced that a new primary school is under construction at Tuschen in Region Three and is expected to be completed in two months.
This the Head of State said is monumental and historical for the country as it is a new model to extend schools here. The school is being built with prefab materials and will reduce the overcrowding in the current primary school.
“If this works then we will have a new model to extend schools across the country. The entire building is steel prefab, it is a new model.
“This is a monumental task because we are testing our engineering capabilities [and] our labour force capabilities,” President Ali said during a visit to the construction site on Thursday.
The 800 square ft school is being constructed by community labour along with several agencies and to fast track its completion, a two 8-hour shift is being implemented.
According to President Ali, over 250 pupils in the current school building are on a shift system because there is no space. The President described this as a “chronic problem.”
“One of the biggest problems is the primary school cannot take off the children so they have a two-shift system for the students and we are trying to resolve that in a way that will create history for this country.
“There is also further growth so we have to build beyond that,” the President said.
He further added that there is also a high level of Venezuelan migrants in the community with children that have to be incorporated into the school system.
The furniture for the new school is being made by villages in the hinterland region.
“One of the things we are also doing simultaneously is having the communities in the hinterland make the furniture, so when the school is completed, the furniture is ready.”
President Ali said Tuschen is one of the most highly populated communities in the country and as such, some $2 billion is being expended to improve the road networks.
“This is one of the communities that is a high-density community. So, we are doing 20 km of roads between Tuschen and Zeelugt,” President Ali said.
He revealed that millions are also being spent on drainage and plans are underway to construct a recreational park.
Meanwhile, under the World Bank Programme another primary school and a secondary school are earmarked to be constructed in the community.
