Monday, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, ceremoniously turned the sod for the construction of the Monkey Mountain Secondary School.
The project is part of a larger allocation of $407,659,560 for the construction of secondary schools in Region Eight.
The Monkey Mountain Secondary School is expected to cater to the educational needs of students from the communities of Monkey Mountain, Taruka and Tusseneng. The complex will host a teachers’ quarters and a small dormitory for the children of Taruka and Tusseneng.
Manickchand said the new school will alleviate the burden on existing educational facilities such as Paramakatoi by accommodating an average of 250 secondary-aged children.
Currently, students from these communities have had to travel significant distances to access secondary education, often facing logistical challenges due to the limited availability of schools in the region.
The construction contract, valued at $208,282,809, has been awarded to K’s Trucking & Construction Service, as announced by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), pursuant to public advertisements in the newspapers and the World Wide Web.
This contract includes facilities such as laboratories, an Information Technology lab, and a library. The training of teachers is currently ongoing and more teachers were identified to begin training for instruction at the secondary level.
Alongside the school, provision is expected to be made for a teachers’ quarters to accommodate staff, given the remote location of Monkey Mountain.