The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

SCHOOL repairs are 85 to 90 percent complete ahead of school reopening, Education Minister Chester Cooper said yesterday, with the government spending in “the region of $20m” on the works this year.

Mr Cooper and Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis toured Palmdale Primary School, SC McPherson Junior High School and HO Nash Junior High School yesterday to inspect ongoing repairs.

The $20m has been budgeted for repairs covering 49 schools in New Providence, as well as campuses in Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.

Mr Cooper said most of the remaining work is minor and includes tiling, cabinet installation, painting, repairing leaks and ceilings, installing air-conditioning units and plexiglass.

“We are pleased with what we've seen so far,” Mr Cooper said. “The reality is, we met three eager contractors today and it's interesting to see the entrepreneurship and the workmanship and the enthusiasm of these contractors and the motivation to complete on time and within budget. So that excites me.”

“I reassure you that we are going to be ready on day one. Overall, we are 85, 90 percent complete. But the schools we saw today are perhaps 90, 95 percent complete.”

Asked about the budget, he added: “Overall budget is in the region of 20 million dollars for school repairs.”

At the end of the tour, the prime minister said he too was “encouraged” with what he saw.

“I'm delighted to know that works are as far advanced as they are, and that all works for what I call school repairs will be completed in time to ensure that our students have a comfortable place to learn and teachers have a comfortable place from which to teach,” Mr Davis said.

Kendrick Antonio Smith, of Fine Line Construction, talked about renovations at Palmdale Primary School and predicted it will be completed by the weekend.

“We did most of the plexiglass. We did of some of the tiling. We install about just about like eight, about nine AC units in all of the classrooms. We plexiglass all of the classrooms out. We are putting some cabinets in the classroom. We put some screen doors at the back door of the staff, and we tiled most of,” he said.

“ Make sure we did everything, security fencing, and everything at the playground. We moved the replanters and stuff of this. Most of the classrooms are properly tiled and everything in all of the classroom.”

Meanwhile, the education minister spoke to reporters earlier in the day about the ministry making progress on teacher shortage as a gap of 300 was identified previously.

He said roughly 100 Bahamian teachers have been recruited.

“We have already enlisted some foreign teachers. We committed to the Bahamian people that we are not going to cut corners. This is a lengthy process of vetting through Interpol and the Royal Bahamas Police Force,” Mr Cooper said.

Mr Cooper said he did not yet have a specific figure for the number of foreign teachers recruited, but a “significant batch” of applications was being sent to the Ministry of the Public Service yesterday, with another batch sent last week.

He said the ministry hopes to fully bridge the teacher shortage over the course of the term. In the meantime, its director and executive team are developing strategies to ensure students receive the necessary attention with the resources available.

The minister said lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic would help the ministry expand its virtual capabilities and strengthen digital literacy among students and teachers.

Mr Cooper pointed virtual schooling and other digital tools the ministry to deploy.

“I'm positive that we are going to be ready at the beginning of the school term and we are going to consistently seek to bring the teaching cadre up to 100 percent in terms of filling the gap that that exists.”