The completion of the new North Ruimveldt Secondary School is now three months behind schedule.
It was supposed to have been completed last October based on the original schedule.
The contract valued $566.9 million was awarded to Kares Engineering Inc following a tendering process. The contract was signed in August 24, 2022 and the completion period was given as 14 months.
The building is partially completed. While some sections of the building are painted, other sections still have blockworks underway.
On June 19, 2021 the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin.
When the fire occurred, the school had an enrolment of 512 students and 39 teachers with 65 students scheduled to write the 2021 Caribbean Secondary Edu-cation Certificate (CSEC) examination. The 2021 CSEC students wrote their examinations in the school’s auditorium that was not destroyed by fire.
The new school will measure 432ft (length) x 30ft (width) x 42ft (height). It will have three storeys and will accommodate 450 to 500 students. The school will be equipped with science laboratories, Informa-tion Technology laboratories, new classrooms, teacher accommodation, a sanitary block and a modern external structure.
At the signing of the contract on August 24, 2022 and in the presence of representatives of the contracting firm, Education Minister Priya Manickchand had said that when contractors fail to do what they are supposed to do, children and communities suffer.
“It is very important that we complete this at a high quality in the time that we said we would complete it so that we can make sure that the children of South Georgetown see what we intended for them to receive,” she added.
The Minister announced that moving forward, whenever a new school is being built the Ministry will ensure that an Education Officer is attached to the project team to ensure quality work is being done.
Kares Engineering Inc. had been deemed to be culpable for disastrous work on the Kato Secondary School in 2013.
