Two city schools will receive new classrooms

Two southside Belize City primary schools will receive funding of close to a million dollars for badly needed new classrooms. According to the Ministry of National Development, financing for the construction at St. John Vianney R.C. and St. Luke Methodist was approved at a meeting held on Friday by the Social Investment Fund’s board of directors. Construction plans for St. John Vianney include a one-storey concrete building housing five classrooms, an administration office and bathrooms, while a two-storey concrete structure housing ten classrooms and bathroom facilities are planned for St. Luke’s. Three hundred thirty-two thousand dollars will be channelled to Vianney through loan funds from the Caribbean Development Bank, with an additional forty-five thousand dollars coming from Government. The St. John Vianney Parent’s Teacher’s Association contributed an existing foundation for the building valued at ninety-nine thousand dollars. Five hundred eighty-four thousand dollars credited to Government under the Commonwealth Debt Initiative will be used for the project at St. Luke’s with the primary school’s P.T.A. contributing seven thousand, five hundred dollars. Both projects form part of the Government’s Southside Poverty Reduction Initiative and are expected to commence early next year.