$3.4B in contracts signed for construction of Tuschen, Hosororo Sec Schools

The Education Ministry on Friday signed several contracts totalling over $3.4 billion for the construction of the Tuschen, and Hosororo Secondary Schools in Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and One (Barima-Waini), respectively.

This is in keeping with the Government’s agenda to provide universal education to children all across Guyana.
During the contract signing ceremony, Education Minister Priya Manickchand reiterated that the Government is working aggressively to build schools in all regions throughout Guyana to accommodate the growing population while at the same time providing quality education to all.
“For this year, they have to stay in their primary school or they have to be in the rotation, which is a horrible way of getting secondary education offered because they just can’t get a quality secondary education. The reason I’m not as worried as I was last year is because I know by next year September, I’ll have schools to put these kids in and in this case, it’s going to be in Region One and Region Three,” the Minister remarked.
The Minister added that space is a huge concern for the ministry as she noted that they were struggling to place 700 new students into secondary schools.
“In Region Three, we were struggling with placing 700 children. We managed to squeeze them into different places because I knew we were going to get this school for next year. This is a project that is very dear to our hearts. We’ve had a fire in Region One, we’ve had three fires in Georgetown so space is killing us,” Manickchand shared.
According to the Minister, under the previous Administration, no secondary school was completed, thus hindering students from being placed in a designated secondary school as opposed to a primary top.
“Not a single secondary school was started and finished under the previous Government. In two short years, we have been able to deliver about eleven schools and that tells you that when we’re in office, people benefit. We want to make sure we can give people all over this country opportunities.”
Both projects were divided into six lots. The Tuschen Secondary School is being constructed at the tune of $864,705,000, while the Hosororo secondary learning institution equipped with a dormitory and teachers’ living quarters is being built at an investment of $2.619 billion.
For Tuschen: S & K Construction was awarded a $285,101,936 contract to complete the substructure works; AS Construction was awarded two lots for the completion of the super structure and external works totalling $340,090,000 while VG Group Guyana Inc was awarded a contract for the completion of all plumbing works to the building at a cost of $29,212,549. Additionally, the contract for the completion of electrical works was awarded to N Balgobin and Sons to the tune of $72,467,910 and the completion of finishing works was awarded to K & S General Construction at a cost totalling $137,833,000.
The secondary school at Tuschen will be a fully reinforced concrete structure combined with a circular and cylindrical building outline that is covered in a dome roof. The building will also be branched with several scientific and research centres, a multi-purpose cafeteria hall, a storage and changing area, and a library and document centre. The school will have 24 classrooms to accommodate over 800 students.
Meanwhile, the contracts for the plumbing work and superstructure work & electrical for the Hosororo Secondary School were awarded to V Group Guyana Inc at an investment totalling $1,658,444,890.
Three contacts for the completion of site development work as well as substructure works for teachers’ quarters and school building were awarded to International Imports and Supplies totalling $692,444,331.
Additionally, a contract totalling $196,319,040 for the completion of substructure works for the dormitory was awarded to Supreme Contracting and Supplies.
The Hosororo Secondary School will have 29 classrooms to accommodate over 500 students. Its science centre will also feature physics, chemistry, and biology laboratories. The TVET centre will have both industrial and home economics laboratories.
A student dormitory and visiting area will also be constructed to accommodate 200 students while the teachers’ duplex living quarters will accommodate 20 teachers.
The Education Ministry continues on its aggressive agenda of providing a high-quality level of education for all, having signed several multimillion-dollar contracts last month to rebuild Christ Church Secondary School, St George’s High School, and St Mary’s Secondary School.
Most recently, the US$5.15 million Good Hope Secondary School on the East Coast of Demerara and the GY$585 million Abram Zuil Secondary School on the Essequibo Coast were also commissioned. (Tassia Dickerson)