The Ministry of Education and Youth says expansion work has begun on the three high schools in Portmore, St. Catherine, where 250 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) students were reassigned after plans to build a new high school in the area fell through.

“We have already began the process and anticipate that the space will be ready for September,” Lauriston Wilson, director of project management and technical services in the ministry, told The Gleaner yesterday.

In June, the Education
Ministry was forced to shelve plans to build a school in Dunbeholden, St. Catherine, based on advice from the National Environment and Planning Agency. The students were later reassigned to Waterford High, Ascot High and Greater Portmore High.

Approval problems

Meanwhile, construction of the Sandy Bay High School in Clarendon was also put on hold because the ministry was having problems getting the necessary approval. Some 250 GSAT students were reassigned to six other high schools in Clarendon and St. Catherine as a result.

Mr. Wilson said the ministry was now going through the approval process and as soon as that is completed, construction will begin.

In the meantime, he noted that the Education Ministry is providing funds to assist some of the six schools with expansion.

The ministry last year had problems finding space for some 3,000 GSAT students in Region Six, which includes the parishes of Clarendon and St. Catherine.

Subsequently, the ministry implemented a Start-A-School Programme, which was to provide some 1,200 school spaces. These spaces were to come from Sandy Bay, Dunbeholden and Foga Road, Clarendon.