Already ten months behind schedule, an extension to March this year has been granted for the completion of the Christ Church Secondary School.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand at her yearend press conference on Friday stated that the extension has been granted due to changes in the design and due to the fact that though several contractors were hired works have been stalled once one lot was not completed on time.
“We had a change in design because the school is completely different from what it initially was. So these are some of the challenges we have. We want schools to be built safely and we are dealing with contractors who bid publically. Trust me when I say this is something we want finished too. In fact we want it finished so much that we started something new. We said we wanted 8 lots so we not giving one contractor we giving 8 contractors and all of you will work simultaneously and finish this school. So while you putting up wall you putting up windows, another putting up toilets. That didn’t work because everybody had to wait on lot 1 and lot one was the foundation and lot one took long. So lot one was the small problem. I’ve personally sat down almost every month with and if not every month every six weeks with every contractor and consultant on every project with the technical team imploring them on the urgency to finish these schools. Sometimes people bid for things they can’t do. We have that experience at Kwebanna as well as Tuschen (they) can’t finish it, then we have to find another contractor and that’s a process and you know these are some of the challenges we have, but we can’t wring our hand we have to get past them”.
When asked about consideration being given to the dislocation to the students, parents and teachers in terms of the added transportation cost due to the now 10-month delay, she stated that there was a stakeholder meeting at the Queen’s College auditorium when the school went up in flames, and the decision that was taken was based on a majority of the parents to house the students at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
“We had a stakeholder meeting at Queens’s College auditorium when this school went up in flames, and every decision that was taken was taken in the majority by the parents of this school. We had other options we could’ve put these children at Lodge which was close, we could’ve divided the school and put some there and some here, and the parents unanimously chose so I did what the parents want. The parents chose to keep their children in one place with one set of teachers at CPCE which is actually very good for accommodation”.
The new deadline for the school has been given as March. The reconstruction of the school had begun in 2023. February of 2024 had been given as the initial month for completion.
On January 12, 2023, fire struck the Camp and Middle streets school building displacing 502 students, 39 teachers and 9 ancillary staff.
The Guyana Fire Service after its investigation had concluded that the fire was an act of arson and had several points of origin.
