Alessandro Boyd, Gleaner Writer

THE CHRONIC shortage of school spaces in St Catherine is expected to be alleviated with the construction of the Cedar Grove High School in Gregory Park.

The school is to be built at a cost of $660 million and will take an estimated 18 months to construct.

"Education is very important to the country. Portmore has the distinction of having the highest concentration of educated persons in Jamaica, particularly at the tertiary level. The addition of this school may continue that tradition," Arnaldo Brown, member of parliament for St Catherine East Central said during the contract signing for the school last Thursday.

The construction is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Education and the New Testament Church of God Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, which has leased the land for the school.

The project will be done through the Education System Transforma-tion Programme as one of several initiatives to transform the education sector pursuant to the recommendations of the Task Force Report on Education Reform in 2004, which is jointly funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.

"St Catherine is one of those areas where we see rapid growth, and demand for secondary schools is very high. We have our sights set on attracting the brightest minds, and adding value to them so that they can continue to contribute to the overall development of Jamaica," Brown told the gathering at the Ministry of Education's Heroes Circle, Kingston head offices.

The institution will be situated on the Gregory Park main road, adjacent to the Cedar Grove community. The school will accommodate 1,200 students and 80 members of staff and will have 20 classrooms, 10 technical workshops, three science laboratories and two computer laboratories along with administration, washroom and lunch-room facilities.

alessandro.boyd@gleanerjm.com [2]