Belladrum Secondary rises again
─ school built in 1973 badly neglected during 1992-2015
─ $65M spent in restoration from 2016 to date
─ beautification, painting to be the main focus of restoration this year
DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, March 5, 2019
The Belladrum Secondary School in Region Five, Mahaica-Berbice, almost wholly neglected by the previous administration during the period 1992 to 2015 will receive another $20Million upgrade this year.
This is the third significant allocation in three years, bringing the total to be spent on refurbishing the school to $65M from 2016 to date.
According to information received, “the previous administration gave minimal provisions; nowhere close to what was needed. When $10M was needed to fix the problems at this school, the PPPC administration gave us $2M,” a source close to the school said.
By 2016, the school’s ceiling was sagging under the weight of bat dung; the stench was nauseating and additionally students had to huddle in the corner of their classrooms during the rainy season to avoid being soaked from rain blowing into their classrooms onto their desks and benches.
“Even residents in the community residing near the school complained about the stench of bat dung,” one source said.
The restoration began in 2016 with a modest sum of $4M for routine maintenance but gained momentum in earnest in 2017.
Superintendent of Works of the Regional Administration, Delton Benjamin said the current Coalition Government poured a total of $26M into the refurbishment of the school in 2017.
“In 2017, we discovered that the bat dung problem was horrific; bigger than we thought. We spent $10M on this, mainly on the annexe, the building at the back the auditorium and the library. This involved the removal of the ceiling, cleaning out what looked like tons of bat dung and installing a new ceiling with marine ply, that is, bat-proofing it and that was done during phase one in 2017.”
Benjamin added that in 2017 the coalition utilised savings to paint the ceiling. They then tiled the auditorium, installed much-needed electrical wiring, plumbing, a chain-link fence, a concrete tarmac and an access bridge at the back for the community playground among other upgrades.
Restoration continued in 2018 with the expenditure of a total of $15.6M on the school.
“In 2018, we tackled the main building – the woodwork, home economics and social studies rooms, teachers’ restroom, staff room carpentry section in the admin block – same bat dung problem,” Benjamin further explained.
According to the Superintendent of Works, a shed was built to prevent the rain from blowing into another section of the building. “We changed 30 per cent of the zinc sheets, changed 30 doors and 40 windows, installed new gutters, electrical wiring and plumbing and then with savings we extended the Allied Arts department. Also, we removed and replaced unserviceable shutters with steel grilles. The new windows not only enabled ventilation but light into the classrooms.”
He further added, “We also constructed a walkway at a cost of $2M so that the children could access the school from the dam to the building because when it rains the pathway was messy and difficult to negotiate.”
For 2019, the Administration of Region 5 is plunging an additional $20M into the further restoration of the school.
Benjamin said, “In 2019, it is beautification; painting and decorating; we will be completing the tiling, more installation of electrical wiring and plumbing, putting in incinerators, upgrading or expanding the Home Economics department because they identified a larger area which could be a community thing.”
He said that these additional upgrades would return the school to its former glory when it was constructed in 1973.
Story and Images: Clifford Stanley.