Nursery schools coming

Government remains on track with its drive to create additional nursery schools on this island.

Saying the existing 12 nursery schools had a total complement of 1 047 students, Acting Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson noted work was ongoing to increase the number of these facilities to meet the demand for access.

We are currently working with the Maria Holder Memorial Trust and we have started to do expansion work at the Government Hill Nursery School. and we have other plans coming on stream at Sayers Court and Deacons and we are also looking at Holders Hill, so we are looking to expand the number of nursery schools available and that would also increase the number of students that would have access at the age of three, she noted yesterday during the debate on the Appropriation (Amendment) Bill 2020.

Meanwhile, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw said while the 2013 project which started with the Trust to create six such educational establishments had faced several delays with the last administration, the work needed to ramp up their construction has begun.

We recognise that while it may not have started with us, there was merit being able to provide watchmen for children and therefore we saw it with a great deal of urgency. Government Hill is on track presently, we had some setbacks which have been resolved and we are now about a month behind. In relation to the other projects, we are working with them so that we can finalise all of the necessary arrangements to be able to bring them about, she stated.

Bradshaw insisted government was working to ensure all the necessary systems were put in place to accelerate not only the lease of the lands, but also all of the maintenance arrangements that are necessary for the projects to get underway.

There is now movement on the additional three schools, and the drawings for the other two are completed and it is just a case of finalising the details, but I suspect that within the next year to two, we should be able to have the full complement of what was initially envisaged in terms of being able to get early access to nursery schools for a wider cross section of the population, the minister said. (JMB)