TO ensure school projects are completed in a timely manner, contractors in Region Seven, who have outstanding projects under the Ministry of Education will now be required to submit weekly status reports until their respective projects have been completed.

This firm call for updates came from Minister of Education, Sonia Parag.

She, alongside Minister within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Pauline Sukhai, on Saturday, led an inspection team to the region where they visited several projects that are being executed under the ministry.

“We want to keep track of the percentage of works, and we also want to have visuals of what is happening on the ground,” Minister Parag asserted.

The team’s first visit was to the Three Mile Secondary School Dormitory. This dormitory is scheduled to be finished in December. With the project slightly behind schedule, Minister Parag instructed the contractor to extend working hours and double the manpower to get the job done.

According to the MoE, the contractor has agreed to the minister’s requests and committed to meeting the current deadline, despite significant challenges in getting sufficient construction materials into the community.

The Three Mile Dormitory was previously a single building that accommodated male and female students. With this new project, the existing building is being renovated, while a new facility is being constructed for female students.

The ministers also visited the secondary school dormitory in Bartica, a project that will feature three separate buildings. One of these buildings will be handed over on Wednesday, the ministry said.

It added that this project is approximately 70 per cent complete, with an expected October month-end completion deadline.

Progress on a similar project in Karrau is also behind schedule, owing to difficulties in sourcing construction materials.

Both ministers have emphasised the need for contractors to spare no effort to ensure that all projects are completed within the stipulated deadlines.

“We are dealing with children, so we have to work,” Minister Parag noted. She emphasised that these investments are critical to the government’s plan to expand hinterland education and ensure that every child has access to a sound secondary education, regardless of the region they are from.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Minister Sukhai, who reaffirmed that the government, “would like to see that all the contracts we have awarded are completed in a timely manner.”

In the coming weeks, Minister Parag and her team, which includes Permanent Secretary, Shannielle Hoosein-Outar and Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain, will be visiting similar projects across the country.