Government still assessing cost of new secondary school in Tomlinson area

The cost associated with the completion of the secondary school in the Tomlinson area will soon be assessed once again by the government.
According to Minister of Information Melford Nicholas, this reassessment will be carried out after an update to Cabinet this week by the Minister of Education and the Board of Education.
“We got a report that there is now need for reassessment because based on the work that is now being done and the expanded requirement and management change that is necessary to take place, they have got to do some reforecasting in terms of cost and also allocation of additional resources,” Nicholas said.
Nicholas also stated that an additional two million dollars will be spent to complete the secondary school.
“These are all fixed amount contacts so based on the square footage they had to come back and seek approval …. If we are looking at what the reassessed cost would be, it would be in the region of two million dollars.”
Nicolas disclosed that the original size of some building was less than what has actually been constructed but the sizes have been increased and the new costs of the additional square feet must be approved by the Cabinet.
Nicholas said: “The original footprint for some of the buildings were defined at about 7,000 square feet and basically at the point of implementation, they have now defined requirements and those footprints have expanded to over ten thousand square feet and as a result they had to go through re-pricing.”
The Information Minister also addressed other details such as the name of the school and uniforms that are being finalised by the Minister of Education and his team, with a proposed showcase upcoming on state media shortly.
“As far as the whole issue of the uniform, I believe that the Ministry is in the process of finalizing what the uniform will look like and I think we have had the benefit of the first view,” Nicholas said. “The Minister has shared the concept with us and it is attractive.”
Nicholas said he believes that the opening of this school would provide an opportunity for an expansion of the teaching profession. He suggested that those interested in educating the nation’s youth should get the necessary qualifications as soon as possible to capitalise on the opportunity.
Meanwhile, he assured the school’s stakeholders that the school will be able to host first form students from the beginning of the upcoming school year.