Minister of Education Rodolphe Samuel says the ministry is working on carrying out much-needed repairs on schools damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, prior to the start of the new school year. In photo: Martin Luther King Jr. School.
PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) Rodolphe Samuel says the ministry is working on carrying out much-needed repairs on schools damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, prior to the start of the new school year.
During Wednesday’s press briefing the minister said at the beginning of his term as minister, he had met with 25 schools in St. Maarten in regard to their status on repairs. “Of the 25, there was a bid to repair six of the schools,” he said.
Three schools the minister mentioned on Wednesday were the Martin Luther King Jr. School, the Leonald Connor School and the Prins William Alexander School.
The Martin Luther King Jr. School in Dutch Quarter has already been prepped for repairs. According to the minister, last week a section of the school was cleared out to allow the repair of damage sustained to the roof. Samuel said the repairs are estimated to begin sometime next week.
Samuel also said that the Leonald Connor School in Cay Bay – which has also experienced issues earlier this year with leakage in the classrooms – is currently on the list of around 20 schools to be repaired by the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB).
The minister, in meeting with the NRPB, requested the repair of upwards of seven schools during this time while students are not in school. This is to allow a sufficient number of classrooms to be ready and available for use at the start of the new school year.
“One of the other schools that has been encountering problems is the Prins William Alexander School in St. Peters. This project [has been – Ed.] stuck for about five years; I believe within the next week or two, the project will continue again,” said Samuel.
The minister said he has hopes that the Prins William Alexander School can be ready for use by August, for the 2020-2021 school year. Once completed, the minister said the plan would be to move the Leonald Connor School from its current location to the new Prins William Alexander School building in St. Peters.
This is to allow the NRPB to carry out the necessary repairs and reconstruction to the Leonald Connor School building. “[The] NRPB would have all things in place in order to start with the Leonald Connor School, which I hope can happen,” he added.
Samuel further asked for all those involved to continue to remain positive about the projects. “The projects [for] repairing schools are for our students and I am very hopeful and positive that these projects will be online,” said Samuel.
