From left: Robert Pickersgill, Minister of Housing, Transport, Water and Works and Member of Parliament for North Western St. Catherine, exchanges pleasantries with Ivy Cummings, retired senior education officer for Region Six; Senator Noel Monteith, Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Youth, and Jennifer Gidden, vice-principal of Charlemont High School, at the official handover of a new block of classrooms at the Charlemont High School in St. Catherine on Friday. - Contributed

Elgin Taylor, Gleaner Writer

LLUIDAS VALE, St. Catherine:

Charlemont High School in north-west St. Catherine staged an official opening ceremony for newly built classrooms at the institution on Friday.

A grade-10 block comprising four classrooms, administrative offices along with rest rooms for staff and students was erected under phase 1 of the Education Transformation Project.

Some $3.1 billion is earmarked to be spent under this project over time in 12 parishes across the island.

Guest speaker for the occasion was Senator Noel Monteith, State Minister in the Ministry of Education and Youth, who said, one of the ideals of the Transformation Project was to move toward the realisation of a two-tier education system, comprising primary and secondary schools.

New school project

He also stated that the ministry was cognisant of the need for the construction of auditoriums in schools and that this was being addressed, starting with this new project.

Mr. Monteith went on to praise the members of staff of the institution for the the strides they had been making.

Vice-principal, Jennifer Gidden, in her address, thanked the Ministry for the new infrastructure and highlighted the achievements of the institution. These included a ninety-five per cent enrolment of graduates of the school in tertiary institutions, as well as chievements in sports and culture.

Fairly equipped

Ms. Gidden stated that except for the lack of an auditorium, the school was fairly well equipped at this time, coming from a situation as early as September of last year when the school faced a shortfall of 280 spaces for their grade-seven students.

Robert Pickersgill, Member of Parliament for the constituency, was also at hand and noted the institution's improvement, lauding them for their progress.

Alex Drysdale, the board chairman presided over the proceedings, and prayer was offered by the Rev. Franklin King. The students of the school rendered several cultural items.