Delayed school start for Ile Perseverance secondary |18 January 2018

Minister Morgan and his team visiting the new school yesterday

Students who are expecting to enter the newly constructed secondary school at Ile Perseverance will have to wait yet another week as the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development has delayed the school’s opening until January 29.

This announcement was made following a site visit conducted at the Perseverance school by Minister Joel Morgan, high officials in his ministry and a team from the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport (MHILT).

“The school building itself is ready but it seems unlikely that the teaching staff will be ready for this coming Monday,” the principal secretary for Education, Odile De Comarmond, stated.

“Since this is a new school, teachers have yet to come in and organise their classes, prepare their timetables and so forth. Hence we have to give them a certain adjustment period.”

PS De Comarmond explained that they have also taken into consideration the movement of students and teachers from Belonie secondary school to Ile Perseverance, which in itself is an additional element to deal with.

The setback in the organisation of the school is partly due to the fact that the contractor was unable to hand over the facility to the ministry by January 15 as expected.

In reference to the week of learning that the students will lose, Minister Morgan said: “If there is a need the ministry will look into the possibility of extending the school term one week into the April holidays for Ile Perseverance only”.

Henceforth during the next few days the ministry will be installing telephone lines, sending in school cleaners to clean the three-storey building, stocking up the school with resources such as books and adding other finishing touches in order to properly welcome the estimated 620 students and 50 teaching staff.

During his visit Minister Morgan and his entourage were able to tour some of its 26 classrooms, 5 science laboratories, and 3 computer rooms among others.

Unlike other state secondary schools in the country, Ile Perseverance secondary is in a league of its own due to its high standard and special amenities.

The initial plan for Ile Perseverance secondary -- which had previously meant to be a school for excellence -- also made provision for a meeting and lounge room for the staff; seven high functioning technical rooms for agriculture, construction, fisheries, textile and social economics; a performing arts room; a library and a room for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students.

Following this visit, Minister Morgan also dropped by Belonie secondary school to check on its progress in regards to the demolition of the old school block and the renovation on the existing block.

According to PS De Comarmond the renovation on the schools’ toilets and classrooms as well as specialist rooms such as the library is expected to be completed before the S3, S4 and S5 students begin their schooling on Tuesday.

As for how many teachers from Belonie are expected to move to English River secondary and Ile Perseverance secondary, PS De Comarmond said that it will depend on the subjects and demand for those subjects from each of these two schools.