Four members of the President’s Charities Foundation (Erika) Relief Sub Committee along with President and Mrs. Savarin recently visited the Coulibistrie and Colihaut schools to get an appreciation of how the Foundation could assist in getting classes resumed in the two schools for next term. The Parliamentary Representatives, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Works officials joined the Sub Committee in this exercise.
Where the Coulibistrie School is concerned there are offers of assistance, and school furniture has already been secured and is in storage. There is an offer to re equip the school kitchen. There is also an offer to repaint the building. These offers are not in writing however and the school Principal and the Ministry of Education officials were asked to get those offers in writing. The Ministry and the school officials as well as the Parliamentary Representative considered fencing of the school compound as a vital component of the refurbishing proposal. The major drawback is that to date there is no detailed project document with quantities and costings so that commitments for various components of the works to be done could be solidified and actual reconstruction works begin without further delay.
In Colihaut although the main building was not impacted there is the need to repaint, particularly on the inside, re-do the floor, ie paint or tile, replace the furniture, and replace doors and windows. The school toilet which was a separate building was severely damaged and has to be replaced. A new building must be constructed. There is also need to replace the foot bridge linking the school to the village as the integrity of the bridge has been compromised.
Like the case in Coulibistrie the dossier is not complete and there are no costings and no quantities. If classes are to resume in these school buildings come next term, the project document which we were told Mr. Trotter is supposed to be working on must be completed without further delay.