The St. Rose’s High School, which has been under construction for several years, should be completed by the end of June, according to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Alfred King.
While speaking to members of the media on Wednesday, King said the project has faced slights delays. The Education Ministry has been assured, however, that the project will be completed by month-end.
To address the current delay, King said a shift system has been put in place by the contractors.
“…The contractors, as we speak, are trying to put a shift system in place and there are two shifts now and so they are actually accelerating back again,” King said.
The $515M contract for the construction of the St Rose’s High School, which was awarded to Shandong Dejian International was signed in September, 2021.
The initial deadline was 19 months with a defects period of one year. The project was therefore supposed to be completed in May, 2023.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand noted that a number of other schools and additions to existing schools are currently being built across the country.
These include Queen’s College, the Bishops’ High School, St. Rose’s High School, Good Hope Secondary School, Yarrowkabra Secondary School, Abrams Zuil Secondary School, East Ruimveldt Secondary and St. Winefride’s Secondary.
And construction at each location is scheduled to be completed by September.
Meanwhile, the North Ruimveldt Secondary School which was destroyed in a fire in June 2021, is expected to be ready by October 2023.
Further, Manickchand noted that Cabinet recently gave no objection for the reconstruction of the St George’s High School which was also gutted in a fire in July 2022.
Altogether, Manickchand said these schools will accommodate more children, thereby inching closer to achieving the Universal Secondary education.
“So it’s…really trying to get us to a place where we will have Universal secondary education…This will allow us to accommodate significantly more children,” she noted.
