While a pot of chicken pelau simmered nearby, villagers of New Grant came out in their numbers to help contractors complete infrastructural works at the New Grant Anglican school yesterday.
Although it seemed like an impossible task, the cheerful volunteers worked alongside Junior Sammy contractors and Temperature General Supplies personnel as they helped to prepare the new pre-fabricated school for today’s new school term.
Principal Lester Haynes was seen rubbing down old school desks while parent Winston Mc Intosh packed them inside the classroom when the T&T Guardian visited the compound yesterday. Grandmother Cecilia Ignacio and parent Kathleen Wade meanwhile dragged heavy blackboards into the classrooms before giving the floors a rigorous sweep.
As workmen from Junior Sammy prepared the gypsum walls and painted the classrooms, other parents mopped the floors of the main administrative section.
Wade said for two months before the last school term ended, students were out of school. The old school structure had been condemned by the Ministry of Works and hope was dim that students would attend classes today. Wade said what transpired recently was amazing.
“Within three weeks, they started to work around the clock and now I am certain that our children will have school tomorrow,” Wade said. She said her daughter, Mariah Richards, was excited to start classes.
Charlie Jagdeo, the owner of Temperature Supplies, said he started air conditioning the rooms only two days ago.
“We will be finished by today (yesterday). There will be AC in the classrooms,” Jagdeo said.
Director of the Educational Facilities Company Limited Anthony Bisnath said the contractor operated three shifts in a 24-hour period.
“It means he was able to do nine weeks of work in three weeks,” Bisnath said.
As to the integrity of the structure, Bisnath said the pre-fabricated school could last between 15 to 30 years depending on weather conditions. He also said that similar structures were being used at the Barrackpore Vedic and the Granville RC Schools. Asked what was the cost of the school, Bisnath said “somewhere between $3.2 to $3.5 million.”
“This is far less than it would take to build a brand new school,” Bisnath said.
The school has a population of 159 pupils. Meanwhile, works also continued at the Granville RC School yesterday. President of the Granville Community Council Alderman Shankar Teeluchsingh said he was “95 per cent” that school will be opened today.
“Based on what I am seeing, work is going on at 100 per cent pace and they are doing the final touches,” Teeluchsingh said. He added that members of the school’s PTA were also assisting the contractors with completing the works.
65 projects completed
Sixty five projects done in 197 schools across the country have been completed ahead of the start of today’s new school year.
In an interview yesterday, director of the Educational Facilities Company Limited, Anthony Bisnath, said there were 201 projects in 197 schools identified by the Ministry of Education and handed over to the EFCL to complete. However, he said many of the projects would have taken longer than two months to complete.
Although only 65 projects were fully executed, Bisnath said this did not mean that schools could not necessarily reopen.
“What we did was subdivide all the works according to county. Project managers were assigned to counties. We allocated resources from within the office and it was a total team effort,” he said.
“There were 201 projects identified by the Ministry of Education and sent across to EFCL for works to be done. We have completed 65 out of that.”
Bisnath added, “For the rest of the projects we have already identified the works that were required and we will allow the schools to be opened.” He noted that works will continue after the new school term opens.