Jose Marti Students to Return to School Today

All is now set for the re-admittance of some 480 grades seven and nine students to the Jose Marti Technical High in St. Catherine today (Sept. 24).
Overcrowding, due to the non-completion of a classroom block, had forced the school to send the students home last week. The school has said that Hurricane Dean and the subsequent loss of electricity, had led to the contractor missing the deadline for the completion of the project.
Twelve classrooms are being built, 10 of which will accommodate grade seven students, while the remaining two will accommodate students in grade nine.
Education Minister, Andrew Holness, who visited the institution on Thursday (Sept. 20), stated that the Ministry took the matter of students in school very seriously and sought to assure parents that all was being done to ensure that the classrooms would be ready on Monday.
“We have been given an assurance by the contractor that they would complete the work over the weekend and be ready for occupancy on Monday and I will be here on Monday morning to ensure that classes are opened,” he stated.
Chief Technical Officer in the Ministry, Lauriston Wilson, told JIS News that he had visited the project site on Saturday (Sept. 22) and the classrooms were ready for occupancy, except one, which was about 98 per cent complete. “Everything is done. All the paint work is complete, electrical work is being tidied up, fittings have been put in and the yard is being oiled in preparation for paving,” he said. “In fact, while I was there, the furniture to outfit the classrooms arrived and the workmen began placing them in the classrooms, so I’m comfortable that the deadline will be met and students can start classes on Monday,” he stated.
In the meantime, the Education Minister said he would be looking at cases of contractors, who were taking on too many projects, and were missing deadlines because their resources were being spread too thinly. “I will give the nation a guarantee that we will be looking at that matter very seriously,” he said.