Touring the incomplete Good Hope Secondary School on Tuesday, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said she wants contractors engaged in projects for the ministry to know that lengthy delays will not be tolerated.
According to a Ministry of Education release on Tuesday, the school which is currently under construction should have been completed since January 2020 following the contract award in 2018. The Ministry wants to have the school ready for the new school year which begins in September 2021.
The construction contract was awarded to BK International Inc. Last November, the government terminated its $826.7m contract with BK for the Yarrowkabra Secondary School over delayed work.
The Managing Director of the company, Brian Tiwarie and his company’s Chief Engineer Ganesh Sawh, gave the commitment at Tuesday’s visit that the school will be completed by May 22. Sawh pointed out that the major aspect of the project left to be completed relates to the electrical work.
Manickchand emphasised the importance of the school to Region Four, particularly the students living in communities along the East Coast of Demerara. The school which will accommodate 1,000 students, will allow the Ministry of Education to eliminate all Primary Tops within the region. A Primary Top is a department within a primary school that delivers secondary education to students who do not have access to a secondary school.
According to the Education Minister, children from villages such as Paradise, Plaisance, Enmore, Good Hope and other communities along the coast will benefit from the school.
Last September, the Ministry found itself in an awkward position following the National Grade Six Assessment. Students who were awarded a place at the school had to be given the option of being admitted to other secondary schools since the facility was not completed and did not have its full complement of staff.
At that time, Manickchand had said that those students will be given the opportunity to return to the Good Hope Secondary upon completion. The contracting firm was told that it is being held to its word for a May 22 completion. “We have 1,000 children that can come into the school and add to the manpower and skills set that the country has, and make their communities better,” Manickchand said.
When the school is completed, it will have similar facilities as the one completed at Westminster in Region Three. The two schools are among three that are funded by the World Bank under the Guyana Secondary Education Improvement Project (GSEIP). The third school is to be constructed at Prospect on the East Bank of Demerara.
