NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Education Minister Glenys Hanna Martin said yesterday that some $15 million has been allocated to school repairs in this fiscal year, with all repairs expected to be completed by August 19.
During her contribution to the budget debate yesterday Hanna Martin said: “It is our intention and with the full collaboration with the Ministry of Works that in this fiscal year all repairs will be completed by August 19, 2022. Some $15 million has been allocated to school repairs in this fiscal year to include all schools in all islands,”
She continued, “We have an old physical plant that requires continuous maintenance. We are in the process of building new schools such as George Town & San Salvador to replace the existing structures that have long been inadequate to meet the needs of the community.”
According to Hanna Martin, construction on the new schools will commence late 2022 or first quarter of 2023. The San Salvador High School and George Town Primary School are are expected to be completed in 2024 with a price tag of $16 million each.
Hanna Martin noted that The Bahamas has been impacted by the teacher shortage being experienced globally. “As a result of these shortages instruction for certain subjects in various schools becomes a challenge and it impacts the ability to offer instruction to a full complement of students at any given time. The virtual school has stepped in to fill gaps in many of these instances. We know that full face to face instruction is the most effective method of instruction and we have been actively seeking to recruit teachers across the board Over the last several months appointments for approximately 133 new teachers, 54 teacher’s aides and 12 guidance counselors have been completed . These persons have all been posted to schools throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. There are approximately 20 additional persons to be processed. Despite this injection of human capital teacher shortages persist.
Hanna Martin noted that a recruitment exercise is underway as the Ministry will seek to hire an additional 200 hundred teachers to replace teachers that have retired or left the system. This she said will come at a cost of approximately $5 million dollars.
