School repair bill expected to quadruple due to hurricane damage

Money allocated by the government for the annual school repair programme is expected to surpass the initial budgeted amount due to damage from Hurricane Beryl.

The July 1 category four weather system caused extensive damage to many structures across the mainland and especially in the Southern Grenadines.

Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves said it is estimated that the actual costs for repairs may be up to five times more than the projected budget.

“… the usual long vacation repair programme is going on, but it’s far more expensive than before…we had projected $3.5 million before [Hurricane] Beryl. Certainly it would be more than four times that, maybe five times that, because some schools are terribly damaged,” Gonsalves said on the August 14 episode of VC3’s RoundTable Talk.

On the mainland, Bishop’s College Kingstown; the Calder Primary School; Owia Government School; Troumaca Secondary School are all earmarked for repairs including their roof, windows, and external structures.

In the Grenadines, the Paget Farm Government School; Mary Hutchinson Primary; Stephanie Browne Primary School; Canouan Government School; and Union Island Secondary all require rebuilding due to extensive hurricane damage.

With the new school term scheduled to begin on September 2, 2024 and schools still being used as emergency shelters, Gonsalves said the priority at present is to move hurricane victims into private accommodation so as to advance the school repair work. He, has however, indicated that the reopening date may have to be pushed back.

“A problem is that we have 20 schools in which we have 559 persons shelterees. So we have to fix those or get alternative accommodation in the form of going in people’s private homes or guest houses, apartments. We have to get the 50 something persons who are inside of the Primary School in Port Elizabeth, which we have to get people out of in order to have the school ready.

“That’s the general idea, to get people…out of all the schools, so that we’ll have enough time to fix up those schools…”.

On the mainland there are 160 persons from Union Island in shelters, and just over 600 families in private homes.

He said the Ministry of Education anticipates that more students from Union Island will be schooled on the mainland as opposed to in the Southern Grenadines.

“It looks as though more persons are going to be up here. From the preliminary numbers that I’ve seen from the Ministry of Education, I can’t say that definitively, because they’re still working through the numbers.”

In Arnos Vale, work is ongoing to complete the temporary school building for over 400 Union Island students. Project Contractor John Greaves, speaking in an interview with the Agency for Public Information (API) said the team has been working during the day as well as at night to meet the September 2 deadline for the reopening of schools.

Minister of Education, Curtis King visited the island of Mayreau last week to see the progress of the work ongoing at the Mayreau Primary School and speak with parents about their concerns and expectations for the upcoming school year.