Education Ministry to Launch School Design Competition
June 8, 2009The Full Story
A competition, to come up with a winning design, which will become the model for future school construction, will be launched by the Education Ministry later this year.
Portfolio Minister, Hon. Andrew Holness, made the announcement at the dual launch of the Child Friendly School sensitisation programme, and a public education campaign to promote Alternative Methods of Discipline in Schools, on Friday (June 5) at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Montego Bay, St. James.
He said that the aim is to come up with a modern school model that is child friendly, secure, and environmentally efficient.
“We want to build the schools with the children, who are going to use them in mind, so I am going to launch what we are going to call the ‘Future Schools Design Competition of Jamaica’,” he informed.
“Effectively, we are going to ask our architects, our designers, and our scientists, to create a school environment that is child friendly. We are going to be looking for people to come to us with cost effective building systems that minimise heat and increase air flow. We are going to be asking our designers, our architects and our planners to develop a school plant that will increase security and safety, ensure easy access, that is ergonomic and aesthetically appealing,” he outlined.
The Ministry plans to abolish the shift system and will be constructing schools to ensure that there is adequate accommodation for students. Dr. Holness said that the Ministry is looking to develop public/private partnership in the effort.
Meanwhile, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative to Jamaica, Robert Fuderich, in his address at the function, acknowledged the work of the Ministry towards creating child-friendly schools and promoting alternative methods of discipline.
UNICEF has developed a Child Friendly School programme as a framework for rights-based, child friendly education systems and schools. Copies of a manual, which will serve as a practical tool in implementing the model, were presented to some educators at the function.