Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand yesterday turned the sod for the construction of the Monkey Mountain Secondary School in Region Eight.
This is part of an effort by the government to expand access to secondary education across the country.
A release from the Ministry of Education said that the project is part of a larger allocation of $407,659,560 for the construction of secondary schools in Region Eight.
The Monkey Mountain Secondary School is expected to cater to the educational needs of students from Monkey Mountain, Taruka and Tuseneng in Potaro-Siparuni. The complex will host a teachers’ quarters and a small dormitory for the children of Taruka and Tuseneng.
Manickchand highlighted the importance of the new school, stating that it will alleviate the burden on existing educational facilities such as Paramakatoi by accommodating around 250 secondary-aged children.
These students have had to travel significant distances to access secondary education, often facing logistical challenges due to the limited availability of schools in the region.
The construction contract, valued at $208,282,809, has been awarded to K’s Trucking & Construction Service, as announced by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, pursuant to public advertisements in the newspapers and the World Wide Web.
The contract includes facilities such as laboratories, an Information Technology lab, and a library, ensuring that students have access to modern learning resources upon completion. The training of teachers is currently ongoing and more teachers were identified to begin training for instruction at the secondary level, the release said.
Manickchand said that provisions will be made for a teachers’ quarters to accommodate staff, given the remote location of Monkey Mountain. This measure aims to attract and retain qualified educators.
The release said that residents of Monkey Mountain expressed their deep gratitude for the new school and chose to let their current grade six children be educated in the community pending the completion of the school.
A local resident of the community expressed that the dreams and wishes of the community have come true.
“Now that we will have a brand new secondary school constructed right in our village, our children will be able to get educated from the nursery level right up to secondary and I can speak for most parents when I say that we can now die happily seeing the development of our village.”
In addition to Monkey Mountain, secondary schools are being built in Micobie and Kopinang while dorm facilities and schools are being significantly upgraded at Paramakatoi and Kato.
A number of the children who died last year May in the Mahdia Secondary dormitory fire were from Micobie.
