May Pen Infant School gets $139-million upgrade

The May Pen Infant School in Clarendon has been transformed into a modern, two-storey structure, with improved amenities to better meet the needs of the institution’s 147 students and staff.

The renovation and expansion project, undertaken through investment of $139 million by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, includes 10 new classrooms, a sickbay, bathroom facilities for students and staff, storage areas, a lunchroom, a modern kitchen, perimeter fencing, classroom furniture, and essential equipment to support effective teaching and learning.

Addressing the official handover, Chief Executive Officer of the CHASE Fund, W. Billy Heaven, said it is the single largest early-childhood project that the agency has undertaken, and is intended to provide a safer, sounder, and more stimulating space for learning.

“In early childhood education, we create a learning environment and that is what we set out to do here through this renovation. We hope to build a stronger foundation to foster the development of our youngest minds here and everywhere else in Jamaica,” he said.

Heaven reported that the Fund has, to date, invested $7.74 billion in early-childhood education, including the building, reconstruction, repair, and equipping of schools across the island.

He noted that the institutions are built to be resilient.

“All the schools that we have built in western Jamaica... 13 brand new schools, we have not lost a single one in Hurricane Melissa, not even a sheeting of the roof. So, we have built with resilience. Our engineering work is second to none, and we will ensure that we will continue this legacy in the years to come,” Heaven said.

Director of Regional Services, Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Barrington Richardson, said that early-childhood education is a “major pillar of our success for education and for our country”.

“For the CHASE Fund to continuously invest in education at this level is something that is worthy of mention and to celebrate. The result of that investment is a state-of-the-art facility that now provides a safe, stimulating and developmentally appropriate environment for our young learners,” he noted.

In his remarks, chairman of the school board, Carlton Knight, said that the investment by the CHASE Fund has enabled teachers and students to operate in an environment “that reflects progress, dignity, and possibility”.

Knight, who is a past student of the institution, said that “standing here today witnessing the transformation of a place that helped shape my own foundation makes this occasion deeply personal and profoundly meaningful”.