April move for pupils of Mary Hutchinson Primary School (+Video)

A new timeline has been set for the completion of the Mary Hutchinson Primary School (MHPS) in Ashton, Union Island with pupils expected to be in new classrooms by the start of term three of the 2022/2023 school year.

The MHPS is one of the nine schools earmarked for upgrades as part of the Schools Improvement Project which is being supported by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The Schools Improvement Project is being implemented by the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the CDB, at a cost of EC $45 million.

The original building where the school was housed was plagued with problems and was ruled structurally unsafe, and the school population was eventually relocated to the nearby Learning Resource Center.

“The information I received is that everything is virtually on stream. We certainly would like to have the school occupied by students by the beginning of the new term, following the Easter vacation. And I think that everything is more or less in place for that,” Director of Grenadines Affairs, Edwin Snagg, told a SEARCHLIGHT team who visited the Ashton community last Friday, February, 17 to see the construction work.

Inside one of the classrooms of the Mary Hutchinson Primary School (MHPS) in Ashton, Union Island.

Demolition of the old school building commenced on September 24, 2021. The projected completion of the new building was set for December, 2022 with the aim of having students and staff in by January this year. However, Minister of Education, Curtis King had said at the time that adverse weather conditions and lack of access to building materials had delayed the project.

“In construction there are always challenges, and in those challenges you have costs overrun … sometimes because of the terrain, the weather. So whether it is over budget I will not be able to say, but certainly, there is a commitment that has been given by the Prime Minister for the opening of the Mary Hutchinson School and that is going to be done and has to be done for the opening of the new school term following the Easter vacation, “ Snagg explained.

He said while the new building is expected to be temporary, he believes that the new school plant will adequately accommodate and serve the needs of the students.

“Based on the size of the school … what is being provided will certainly meet the needs at the current time. Bear in mind that it is a temporary school and plans are afoot to build a permanent primary school on the site where the temporary one is being built,” Snagg said.

The new building is designed to accommodate seven classrooms, a kitchen, dining area, staff room, administrative building, wash rooms, library and a computer room.

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