GOV'T UNDERTAKES $100 MILLION PRIMARY SCHOOL SANITATION PROJECT - Jamaica Observer - February 13, 2015

Rev Ronald Thwaites (left), is assisted by a student of Bois Content Primary School in south west St Catherine, in cutting the ribbon to formally open the newly built flush toilet facility at the school. Sharing the occasion are (from 2nd left): General Manager, JN Foundation, Saffrey Brown; Chairman, Food for the Poor, Andrew Mahfood; and Member of Parliament, South West St Catherine, Everald Warmington; along with other students of Bois Content Primary School.

KINGSTON, Jamaica - The Ministry of Education has embarked on a $100 million project aimed at installing flush toilets at primary schools islandwide, which currently use pit latrines.

The Primary School Sanitation Project, which is being jointly undertaken with charity organization, Food for the Poor, will initially target 50 institutions, where renovations will be carried out over the next three to four months. Work at the remaining schools is slated to take place later in the year.

Under the initiative, Food for the Poor has committed to constructing new sanitary blocks, which will comprise: water harvesting facilities and closets; toilets; urinals; and wheelchair access ramps, among other features.

Work has been completed at the first beneficiary institution, Bois Content Primary School in south west St Catherine, which served as the pilot, and where the project was launched today Friday (February 13).

An additional three schools are earmarked for similar improvements, which will be funded at a cost of $6 million by JN Foundation.

Speaking at the launch, Education Minister, Rev Ronald Thwaites, described the occasion as “a very important day” for the school and Ministry, as it signaled “a time of transformation for education in Jamaica.”

He said Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, “gave me a directive” to eliminate the pit latrines in schools and render them “a thing of the past.

“Today, we are in this place (Bois Content Primary School, which serves) as a stepping stone to the…other schools that we have contracted with Food for the Poor, to make these changes. We are beginning to realize that dream,” the Minister said.