Multipurpose classroom being built at Granville Place of Safety

WORK VALUED at $25 million is being undertaken at the Granville Place of Safety in Trelawny, where a multipurpose classroom is being built.

“This will be opened in the second quarter of this year and will offer our female wards skills training,” State Minister in the Ministry of Education Youth and Information Floyd Green said.

He was speaking during his contribution to the 2018/19 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Additionally, Green said $50 million has been allocated in the 2018/19 Budget for the continued renovation of residential state-care facilities.

He noted that chief among the projects will be preparatory work for phase one of a therapeutic centre to be constructed at Maxfield Park Children’s Home in Kingston and the construction of new dormitories at the St Augustine Place of Safety in Clarendon and at Granville.

The improvement works are being done under a comprehensive five-year plan.

So far, the Muirton Child Care Facility in Portland was renovated at a cost of $40 million and reopened in March.

The home is the first Government-operated, purposebuilt facility to cater to children with special needs. It can accommodate 25 boys, ages 11 to 16, with mild disabilities.

“We have already started the process of moving boys from other homes to Muirton so that they can get the specialised attention to enable every child in our care to unleash their tomorrow today,” Green stated.

Additionally, a new multipurpose facility at St Augustine’s Place of Safety was opened in April, which included new administrative offices, as well as offices for social workers and councillors, and a new kitchen to be used for training the boys in food preparation. This was upgraded at a cost of $16.6 million.