Grange Hill Primary’s capacity boosted for single shift
Published:Monday | November 6, 2023 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
MARSHA SMITH, state minister for education and youth, says additional classes at Grange Hill Primary School will prove significant as it has outgrown its capacity.
The western Westmoreland-based co-educational institution had its genesis in 1924, but the population of that Grange Hill community has now grown to approximately 10,000.
“The Grange Hill Primary School has long exceeded its original capacity of 560 students, which led to the implementation of a shift system. And it is highly possible. I am sure this was the case because of the [high] quality education here, and you didn’t want to turn away any students,” Smith said.
The state minister for education and youth was speaking during a ceremony where the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) handed over a new block at the school last Thursday after spending about $112 million, which came from the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) ninth cycle of its Basic Needs Trust Fund.
She said part of the reason the physical plant has outgrown its capacity has to do with the fact that parents and guardians in the community and surrounding areas see Grange Hill Primary as a school of choice.
“And successive school administrations have sought to meet that need, and a shift system was seen in the absence of adequate building facilities as the way to meet that need,” Smith said.
New classrooms
“I am really happy today that you have here the eight new classrooms, and I am pleased to hear that though it had not met the full needs of the school, the community has rallied around the school,” Smith noted.
“And I think it is important for us to know that the five additional spaces that you are going to be using in the school for 2023 going forward have been established through partnerships with your business community, your community, and civic leaders,” she continued.
The state minister lauded the community members “who have put their money where their mouth is and joined you in building out additional facilities at the school”, pointing out that “funding from a government source or an international lending agency or grant agency is never enough, and so community members, you have a role to play because ‘a fi yuh school, a fi you community, and a fi yuh children’”.
Omar Sweeney, managing director at JSIF, said the overcrowding at the school had presented several challenges, prompting the establishment of the double-shift system, which reduced the number of contact times by two hours per day, amounting to 10 hours a week for each student.
He said the educational development and security of students were of great concern with the reduction in class times and the time when the evening shift ends; thus this project will remedy these issues.
Vision 2030
“The investment in Grange Hill Primary School is in line with the mandate of JSIF and the Ministry of Education to eliminate the shift system in schools. It further supports the achievement of the Vision 2030 outcome of world-class education and training and is aligned to UN Sustainable Development Goal #4 of quality education,” Sweeney said.
He also lauded the CDB for providing the financing under their Basic Needs Trust Fund Ninth Cycle so that the expansion and rehabilitation of this school could take place.