JIS: The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) is constructing an infant department at the Barrett Town Primary School in St. James at a cost of $34 million.

 

Funding is being provided by the European Union (EU) under its Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP IV).

 

Project Manager at JSIF, Celia Dillon, said that the four-classroom infant school, which will accommodate more than 110 students, is slated to be completed in July of this year.

 

“The project is about 80% complete …. [and] the building was designed to have its own administrative unit. All four classrooms will be completed along with a sanitation block. We are doing a play area as well,” Ms. Dillon told JIS News.

 

She noted that JSIF will also be renovating the school’s kitchen.

 

Meanwhile, Ms. Dillon highlighted that JSIF will be hosting an education camp to help students prepare for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations.

 

“We are also offering students from the school in grades four and five, a remedial education camp in literacy and numeracy, and that will start in June,” Ms. Dillon said.

 

For her part, Acting Principal of Barrett Town Primary, Ventris Edwards, says the school administration is looking forward to the completion of the infant department.

 

“We cannot wait for it to be finished, so that the children can benefit. We are hoping it will be ready by September [because] parents are already enquiring about how they can register their children,” Ms. Edwards said.