Minister of Education Priya Manickchand slammed contractors for failing to complete all installations at the new Grove/Diamond Primary School and she put bidders on notice that the ministry will be seeking damages for every day that the work remains unfinished.
Manickchand visited the school on Monday, its opening day, to ensure that things were going smoothly. “We walked through the classes and everything is orderly for the children here, they are receiving an education on the first day of school. People say nothing really happens on the first day, but all classes are in session and teachers are in place, they are teaching. The furniture is in place and everything is going smoothly. I am really glad about that,” she said, according to a GINA report.
However, on noticing that a section of the brand new school was incomplete and a number of windows had not been installed, Manickchand put contractors on notice that the ministry will take them to court and apply penalties for unfinished work. “These are the kind of things that cause grave hardship. When contractors don’t do what they are supposed to do on time. The Ministry is going to take a very firm view of contractors who don’t finish their work. We are going to be applying for damages for every single day that you don’t finish your work. Because when that happens it is our children that suffer. If contractors are going to be bidding for jobs and saying that we can finish it for x-time for x-amount of money, then they have to stick to that or we will be taking them to Court and applying all the penalties that we are allowed to apply. We want to sound that warning to all contractors who will be bidding for projects in the Ministry of Education,” she said.
Further, the minister noted that every time a project is awarded, “We are going to the communities with all the documents, and posting up across the communities, and that particular community, bills of quantities contract, so the community is fully aware, and can help us watch the contractors and see what they are doing.” She noted that it was ridiculous “that we are spending that kind of money and are not getting the returns. It’s criminal really, when you think that we are a poor country, and we are spending money on building schools, and them some ‘cock sure’ contractor is coming and giving us work that is substandard. We have to be careful with that.”
According to GINA, the school was built to accommodate 1,000 children and is equipped with a canteen, kitchen, restrooms, and a library. About 515 children have been registered but only about 400 turned up on Monday.
Wendy Chichester, Deputy Head Mistress and acting HM, invited private and public sector organisations to donate books to the library, adding that she plans to work hard to ensure that the school is “of the most, if not the most child friendly school in our country. That is our intention and our purpose.”
