BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, August 3, 2017 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, said the Team Unity Government’s decision to construct a brand new state-of-the-art Basseterre High School at Pond’s Extension in East Basseterre was made in the interest of the future development of the country.
“This project really is about future proofing St. Kitts and Nevis and there is no better way of future proofing St. Kitts and Nevis than to invest in the young people,” Prime Minister Harris said during Wednesday’s press conference at Government Headquarters.
“I prefer to spend millions building a school than have to spend millions on rehabilitation programmes because persons fell through the crack of our education system. I prefer to do that, and there are some who say ‘well the school sounds expensive’. Well everywhere around the world education is expensive. For the individual going to UWI or UVI, education is expensive, but it is a worthy investment and that is how we have to see it,” the prime minister added.
Dr. Harris continued by saying the health and well-being of teachers and students of the Basseterre High School and the preservation of the country’s water quality will never be taken for granted under the Team Unity Administration.
The St. Kitts and Nevis leader stated that every precautionary measure was taken leading up to the selection of Pond’s Extension as the site for the new educational facility.
“We gathered the best team of experts in water management issues, including Dr. Halla Sahely, a former head of water management and an acknowledged expert in the area, the best competency we had available on the island of Nevis, persons from abroad and we put all of them together…they looked at all the sites and they gave us, if you will, the go ahead that there should be no reasonable challenge to the aquifer, to water quality etc., if we were to proceed there, and of course if certain best practices were observed.”
Prime Minister Harris revealed that construction on the new facility is expected to commence later this year.
Since January 2016, the students of the Basseterre High School have been occupying temporary wooden buildings built specifically to accommodate the over 850 students and some 80 teachers. The buildings were constructed by the Barbados based company, Innotech Services Limited.