ACCESS TO secondary education in Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) has been greatly improved with the completion of capital works on education infrastructure worth $35M by the Regional Administration this year.
This is according to Regional Executive Officer, Ishwar Dass, who noted that the administration has, to date, completed 97% of its capital works programme for this year, and expects to fully complete the remaining works by early this month.
Dass said that of the $35M spent on educational facilities, $20.5M was spent on the Mahdia Secondary School (MSS).
A fraction of that money ($9M) was spent to enclose the bottom flat of the school to accommodate eighty additional students, while another $9M was expended on constructing a new sanitary block to provide comfortable accommodation for teachers from outside of the region who occupy the school’s living facilities.
The beneficiary teachers included those who recently completed training in a variety of disciplines at the Cyril Potter College of Education, Dass said.
The sanitary block was upgraded at a cost of $2.5M.
At Paramakatoi village, the second secondary school in Region Eight was rehabilitated at a cost of $7.5M, and an Industrial Arts Department was established at a cost of $8M.
Dass said these significant improvements in the education infrastructure of Region Eight have rendered obsolete the old practise of setting up secondary departments in primary schools, which had been done because of space constraints.
“Secondary departments in primary schools are now a thing of the past. We in Region Eight believe that education is better than silver and gold, hence the emphasis on upgrading the facilities at both primary and secondary levels,” he said in expressing his satisfaction at the current outcomes.
Dass said the expenditure on improving educational facilities was part of an expenditure of $129M on capital works done in Region Eight this year.
Other capital works done include repairs to roads, and installation of culverts, mainly around Mahdia ($25M);   upgrading bridges ($15M); and rehabilitating hospitals at Mahdia and Kato at a cost of $9M.
Ninety-seven per cent of these works had been satisfactorily and successfully completed, with the exception of some minor works remaining to be done at the secondary school at Paramakatoi, which will be completed by early October.