All but one

All secondary school students should be back to school by Wednesday – with one exception, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw has promised.

Frederick Smith Secondary at Trent’s, St James, will remain closed until Monday, she said following a tour of schools at the start of the Michaelmas term.

Alexandra, Grantley Adams Memorial, and Princess Margaret are three remaining schools to reopen on Wednesday, she disclosed.

The Education Ministry decided to stagger the opening of some schools at the start of the academic year because major works being done at those sites were not completed on time, Bradshaw explained.

The Minister said she was “sensitive” to the issue of teachers and children operating in environments that were not necessarily conducive to their health. She said the ministry was trying to get the works completed now in order to avoid any disruptions after teachers and students settled into the new term.

During last Wednesday’s annual tour of schools by the Ministry of Education officials, Bradshaw expressed her pleasure that most of the renovations were on track and declared that only four out of the 41 public schools were to remain closed pending completion of repairs come today’s first day of term.

At that time, she told the media of challenges in getting financing to mobilise the repair projects. She said that in some cases, contractors may not have had the funds, and in other instances, the way in which the Ministry of Education traditionally issued funds to mobilise work had presented a number of problems.

She had declared that contractors had gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that the work at the schools was thorough. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb