$20M Classroom Block Built at Black River High School

An additional classroom block has been constructed at Black River High School in St. Elizabeth at a cost of approximately $20 million.

The structure, which comprises four classrooms and a staff room, was built under the Government of Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project and is expected to help ease overcrowding at the institution.

The National Education Trust (NET) provided oversight for the completion of the block, which was officially handed over during a ceremony to the institution on Friday (November 12).

Addressing the ceremony, Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Fayval Williams, informed that Black River High, which was originally built to accommodate 600 students, now has an enrolment of approximately 1,700.

Against this background, she said the additional classrooms will provide a more comfortable learning environment for the students and facilitate the removal of the shift system from the institution.

The Minister indicated that original project scope was revised to include two phases for the overall expansion.

“Today’s handing over is indicative of a commitment to providing the resources to enable our children to do well in an environment that is conducive to learning. We trust that these resources will help to alleviate some of the concerns that parents have about the conditions in which teaching and learning takes place,” she added.

Mrs. Williams also thanked the Government of Japan for their continued investment in the renovation and improvement of schools in Jamaica.

For his part, Japan’s Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Masaya Fujiwara, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to providing assistance to the local education sector.

“Going forward, our Embassy is committed to our endeavor to assist in empowering the people of Jamaica through education and other critical areas of development,” he said.

Meanwhile, in her remarks, NET’s Donor and Partner Relations Director, Latoya Harris, announced that additional classrooms will be constructed under phase two of the project, which is expected to be completed over the next nine months.

Ms. Harris expressed gratitude to people of Japan, noting that the project spurred the Ministry to fast track plans to remove the shift system from Black River High School, citing its “negative effects” on instructional delivery.

“We plan to work on completing the next phase of the project and by [doing] that, we anticipate that the shift system will be completely removed from Black River High,” she added.