Better Work Environment for Schools Being Pursued

The upgrading of staff facilities as well as construction of administrative blocks in public schools will continue, in efforts to provide a better working environment.

Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, provided an update on school infrastructure developments during a press conference at the Ministry in Kingston on Monday (August 22).

“There are approximately 1,000 schools across Jamaica with varying needs; and I do agree that many of the facilities in our schools, for our teachers and our administrators, need to be upgraded,” she said.

Against this backdrop, Mrs. Williams indicated that she has instructed the National Education Trust, which is responsible for major infrastructure work, to “begin [the construction of] an administrative block for all our schools.”

Already, a database, which was collated by the World Bank and University of Technology Jamaica (Utech) architectural students, ranks the infrastructure status of each school.

“They went out, looked at [and] did the physical review of our schools. So, we have the database that is ranked to let us know which schools are satisfactory, which schools are not, and which schools are having issues,” the Minister disclosed.

She said the Ministry will be meeting with Principals across the island this week to update them on projects that were completed within the last school year, and those to be tabled for the 2022/23 academic year.

“As we continue to maintain and improve our schools, you will begin to see better facilities for our teachers and our administrators,” Minister Williams stated.