Watson Town Basic School in St. James Expanded

The Watson Town Basic School in East Central St. James has been expanded and equipped at a cost of $5.5 million by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF).
The Fund has now invested more than at $194.7 million in 36 projects in the parish, benefiting over 24,000 persons.
At a ceremony on June 16, the school was officially handed over to the community by JSIF.
The project involved the rehabilitation of an existing building and the construction of two additional classrooms, kitchen, sanitary facilities, the provision of furniture for the teachers and students, and play equipment for the children. The school has approximately 80 students on roll.
Addressing the handing over ceremony, Human Resource Manager at JSIF, Grace Ann Miller underscored the importance of the education sector to the organization, adding that of $3.25 billion approved by the JSIF Board for sub- projects, $1.47 billion has been approved for school projects. This amount, she stated, represented 45.2 per cent of JSIF’s total investments.
She said that the school projects embarked on ranged from construction of new facilities to rehabilitation and fencing, providing equipment and upgrading sanitary facilities.
Miss Miller called on the Watson Town community members to make a commitment to maintain the school facilities and equipment, so that the children could always have a place where they could receive a good education, which was vital to the future development of the area and the nation.
“So although JSIF has provided the facilities, the toughest part of the job is left up to you the parents, teachers and the wider community, and that is to guide and educate our children,” she said. The Watson Town community members contributed 11 per cent of the total cost of the project, through voluntary work.