Girls headed to Dodds base

The three female wards at the Government Industrial School (GIS) in Barrows, St Lucy will be transferred to the Dodds, St Philip location as early as next week.

With 95 per cent of the construction work to retrofit the GIS at Dodds to make provisions for the girls completed, interim principal Catherine Jordan said the wards currently housed at Barrows, should be joining their five male counterparts from Monday October 3.

“We are trying for Monday, but what we have to complete is to bring the equipment and supplies that are down there [at Barrows] that can be used here. So if there are some air-conditioned units that can be used here, instead of having to buy them, we will bring those.

“The kitchen furniture that the girls sit on, we will bring that. So it depends on the next couple of days. We are planning for Monday. We are hoping it works out,” Jordan said.

During a tour of the $1.5 million renovation project on Wednesday, chair of the Departmental Inquiry into the operations of the GIS, retired Deputy Commissioner of Police Oral Williams said while the investigations were ongoing, his team made about seven visits to the Dodds facility. The buildings looked nothing like they do now, he said.

Williams, while delivering the findings of the inquiry last Monday, called for a total overhaul of the GIS. He said today that the retrofitted buildings are a clear indication that the Ministry of Home Affairs has been working hard to ensure that the facilities are fit-for-purpose.

“I am very much impressed by what I have seen in this short space of time,” Williams said, adding that he was looking forward to additional improvements to the structures.

Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams was also pleased with the progress of the work on the buildings, and commended the project team and contractors for their efforts.

Meanwhile, the interim principal said that while the girls and boys will remain separated, at times, they would come together to participate in certain activities. Jordan stressed that the wards will be taught how to get along with each other in a respectful manner.

“Of course we will bring them together sometimes. The boys and girls can’t operate in the world separately all the time. But, we will bring the boys and girls together in a controlled way especially for some interactions.

“As we know girls distract boys in the classroom so we will not put the boys and girls together in the classroom. They will be on the same compound but we are going to treat them in a way that each person feels a positive sense of self,” Jordan said.

Senior Technical Officer, Ministry of Home Affairs and Office of the Attorney General, Malcolm Mapp, who lead the officials and members of the media on the tour, explained that the retrofitting work included renovations and alterations to the dormitories, mess hall, educational block, house mistress and welfare offices, creation of a staff lounge, and expansion of the clinic.

“I would honestly say it is 95 per cent completed. There is not much more to be done. We would have encountered challenges because of the age of the building. These old buildings tend to have moisture in the walls and there were a lot of things that you would not have seen up front. When you go and you start doing the actual demolition work you realise that you are encountering other things that you have to deal with,” Mapp said. (AH)