PREPARATIONS are ongoing to have Kato Secondary School opened for the new school term in January. Regional Executive Officer, (REO) Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), Gavin Gunga explained to the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the school is currently still being outfitted with furniture, equipment, and other requisite supplies before the school opens.

“The plan right now is to commission the Kato School in the last week of this school term. So right now, the trucks and contractors are delivering those furniture and necessary supplies to commence school in January,” Gunga said.
The REO added that teachers have also been secured for the new school term. He disclosed that he was informed by the Ministry of Education’s, Teachers Service Commission that the necessary personnel to execute the functions of the school are there and “once school starts in January, students and teachers will be there.”

According to Gunga, all the technical checks were conducted and the school was given the green light to open in January. Students from nearby institutions, including Mahdia Secondary, Sand Creek Secondary, and Paramakatoi Secondary School students, who presently are housed at that institution’s overcrowded dormitory, will be transferred to the Kato Secondary School.

In July last, Minister of State Joseph Harmon at a post-Cabinet briefing, announced that the Kato Secondary School, which was constructed at a cost of over a $100M, was unsafe for occupancy. After several interventions by government, remedial works were completed by the contractor who was issued with the Certificate of Practical Completion, by Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, for the school.

(DPI)