Education Minister says awarding of contracts for school repairs transparent

 

Education Minister Dr. Dana Morris Dixon is dismissing claims by the parliamentary opposition that the government needs to be more transparent in the awarding of contracts for the reconstruction and repair of schools damaged during Hurricane Melissa. 

 

The government has allocated $26 billion to repair schools damaged during the hurricane. 

 

Speaking at the Jamaica Labour Party's Area Council 1 meeting on Thursday night, Dr. Morris Dixon insisted that the government has fulfilled its promise to be transparent in the awarding of contracts. 

 

"We have been very, very deliberate about being transparent. Anybody that get a contract, it on that website. You can go and look. You can go and count how much contracts that person got. You can see how much money the contracts add up to. So if you have a school in the west that you care about, you can go on the website and see it. And you can see how much money your government is spending. Is not our money, is not the government money, is your money. And that's why it was important that we give you the information. And that's why for us, truth matters. Truth matters. We give you facts, but they give you something else that is not facts," she contended.

 

Dr. Morris Dixon added that the government is making progress in the repairs of schools badly damaged by the storm. 

 

"Look at some of the schools that have been finished. Many have not been, but many have been. When you go to Parottee Primary, Parottee was destroyed. The Parottee Primary principal running around telling everybody 'I get a brand new school.' That's what everybody at the end of this - all those 309 schools that were severely damaged - that's what they're going to say - I have a new brand school. But that takes time. That takes time to get there," the minister stressed. 

 

Over 600 educational institutions were damaged during Melissa last year. 

 

Meanwhile, the Education Minister maintained that the government has been providing the necessary funding to assist the schools in their day-to-day operations. 

 

"In this year, during this summer, we made the most significant increase in funding to our schools in 20 years, increase in their operating expenses. We gave $835 million more to our schools. In terms of our operating budgets for school, there was a 55 per cent increase on average. And some schools got bigger. The primary schools, the infant schools, the special needs schools got more money because we recognise that if we're going to get success, we have to build the foundation. If the foundation not built, we cannot have a beautiful shining, prosperous house. So the foundation has to be set. Let me give you one example. So one school was getting $844,000, a small school, and they're now getting $1.4 million, a 64 per cent increase," she outlined.