$19-m expansion for August Town Primary

JSIF News, June 2, 2009: 

Construction work is being carried out in earnest for the expansion of the August Town Primary School. 

THE Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has secured $17.1 million from the Caribbean Development Bank/Basic Needs Trust Fund Fifth Programme (CDB/BNTF) to expand the August Town Primary School located in the volatile community of August Town, St. Andrew. The other $1.8 million will come from the August Town Primary School in the form of sweat equity.

The contract, which was signed last Wednesday at the school, will see the construction of an additional classroom block consisting of four classrooms to relieve the current congestion which sees as many as 540 students trying to learn in cramped quarters.

Gerald Murray, JSIF Project Officer (left) using the blueprints for the new section of the school being constructed to explain to the August Town Primary sponsoring body exactly what is transpiring. 

Morlton Wilson, Principal of the school berated the small turn out of parents, teachers and residents to what should have been a milestone for a community that is usually in the news for the wrong reasons. He noted however that the few who were gathered are indeed thankful that the overcrowding would be addressed and students would have a better environment in which to learn.

Gerald Murray, JSIF Project Officer who spoke at the signing, urged community members to work together to ensure that the project was a success. He also used the opportunity to encourage the contractor, Marshall Construction Company Limited who won the contract "to complete the works on time and within budget".

The expansion and rehabilitation works is scheduled to be completed in five months