Micobie Village to Get $253M School

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Kaieteur News – Micobie Village in Region Eight is set to get a brand-new secondary school building which will be constructed to the tune of $253,561,500.

This is according to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), which recently awarded the $253 million project to contractor NK Engineering Services following the national bidding process.

This publication reported that the move to have a secondary school erected in the village was announced last year by authorities following the deadly Mahdia dormitory fire. The dormitory, before it was gutted by fire once accommodated female students from Micobie and other villages that were attending the Mahdia Secondary School.

It was reported last year August that Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand told the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly that it was determined at consultations with the community and relevant stakeholders that there was reluctance to have another dormitory built at the Mahdia location.

Instead, a decision was made to construct a secondary school at Micobie that would cater to students from that community that were once residing at the dorms.

“The decision of the Cabinet was to build a secondary school at Micobie which would take care of the Micobie students who were in the dorms as well as those who are now leaving Grade Six. And the girls at Grades 9,10 and 11 and who are in the dorms will come out and be housed at the President’s College,” Manickchand said at the time.

Kaieteur News understands that the new school is set to cater for some 200 children.

In addition to the secondary school for Micobie, the NPTAB recently awarded similar projects for other hinterland areas. This publication reported that the agency awarded a $231,959,143 contract to Sheriff Construction to construct the secondary school at Jawalla Village in Region Seven, and a $326,598,400 contract was awarded to Trevon David Construction Services to build a school in Waramuri in Region One.

It was reported that this year, the Ministry of Education was allocated some $74.4B, a portion of which will be used for the construction, rehabilitation, extension and maintenance of educational facilities.

This newspaper reported too that the Ministry has embarked on an aggressive programme to ensure that the nation’s children have access to secondary education. The Government has set 2025 to achieve universal secondary education. To achieve this, the ministry has since moved to have several secondary schools constructed across the country.