MONTHLY FEATURED PROJECT

Bamboo Primary and Junior High School Expansion (#071156)

The new classroom block at the Bamboo Primary and Junior HIgh School

Bamboo is a relatively large community located to the northwest of St. Ann. It comprises the following districts: Clayground, Lilyfield, Ebenezer, Homestead, Kimmer, Spring Garden, Hazelwood, Canaan Road, Shelly Road, Free Hill, Johnson, Rickman Drive and Banks. Bamboo is seated in the Dry Harbour Mountains of St. Ann and was once historically known as Little Kent.

Bamboo Primary and Junior High was first established as an All Age school in 1954 until a couple of years ago, when the Ministry of Education upgraded it to junior high status. When the school was built, it was done within capacity; however, population growth (resettlement of persons by Kaiser Bauxite in the 1960s and establishment of two subsequent housing schemes) as well as migration and transferring of students from other communities to the facility since its upgrade, the school has grown beyond its capacity. The school population has 1155 children, comprising 638 boys and 517 girls between the ages of 6and 15; 34 teachers, 1 groundsman and 1 cleaner.

Initially, there were 3 blocks of classrooms. Each block comprised 3 classrooms which were sub-divided with blackboards into 28 classes. In order to deal with the lack of classroom space, a two shift system was implemented. This system did not help to alleviate the problem as the school still suffered from severe overcrowding. There was also roof damage to some classrooms and bathrooms during the passage of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.

JSIF's Human Resource Manager, Miss Grace Ann Miller interacting with students and Miss Maxine Whittingham and Fern Buddho (right) of Red Stripe in a classroom at the Bamboo Primary and Junior High School on September 27, 2007

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund upon review of the submitted application approved the project of expanding this overcrowded facility. The project involved the expansion of  classroom space to include 4 additional rooms, refurbishing and expansion of the existing blocks, terracing of the courtyard for student use, and equipping of desks and chairs for students.

 The project costed a total of $11,481,682 with the community contributing $785,075 of the final cost. The Community Contribution included; demolition works, planning and hosting the various ceremonies, providing security for the machinery and materials, carrying out post production clean up, provision of an employment coordinator to the project and terracing work. The project was completed and officially handed over on September 27, 2007.