Projects Social Improvement
2 min.
The system for daycares and schooling in Saba has been a topic of discussion over the past few months, both locally and in The Hague. The Public Entity Saba has on various occasions expressed its ambitions in terms of the large-scale School Housing Master Plan and the government in the European Netherlands shares those ambitions. On the short term, the plan aims at improving daycare services on the island, as well as the Sacred Heart Primary School (SHS), the Saba Comprehensive School (SCS), the Godfried Bontebal Technical School, and the gym.
Brand-new daycare in St. John’s
While the School Housing Master Plan is an extensive working document detailing considerable improvements to Saba’s daycare and school buildings, the implementation will happen step by step. The support of the Dutch Ministries of Social Affairs and Labor (Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid), Education, Culture and Science (Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap), and Public Health, Wellbeing and Sport (Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport) goes a long way in ensuring a certain continuity of the project over the coming months and years.
One of the first major steps in terms of the Master Plan is the decision to construct a brand-new building for the Laura Linzey Daycare in the capital of The Bottom. Initially, the project was meant to for St. John’s, but the Master Plan’s Steering Committee could not find a sufficiently large plot of land for the construction. Instead, the daycare will be built on four plots of land in the capital The Bottom, entirely according to the guidelines of the Island Ordinance for Childcare and the current childcare situation in Saba. The proximity of facilities like the park, the athletics field and the library is an additional advantage of the new location.
SHS Kindergarten expansion
The construction of the Laura Linzey Daycare in The Bottom is not the only step that has recently been taken to improve care facilities for the youngest inhabitants on the island. The Steering Committee, the Public Entity Saba and the Dutch Ministries also agreed on the expansion of the Sacred Heart Kindergarten within the confines of the Sacred Heart Primary School. More precisely, one of the existing buildings in the compound will be rebuilt with an extra level on top to facilitate the expansion of the kindergarten. This project is expected to kick off this summer.
Besides the kindergarten expansion, the School Housing Master Plan also details the Steering Committee’s wish to upgrade the SHS as a whole, as it considers the current facilities outdated. One option would be to build an entirely new school on a vacant plot of land right next to the current school. At the same time, the Committee is also considering moving the Godfried Bontebal Technical School, which is part of the Sacred Heart school system on the island, from its current location at Cove Bay to a new location in St. John’s.
“These adjustments and new constructions need to accommodate the needs of today, but also the needs of the future”, explains Bruce Zagers, Commissioner of Education and Finance in Saba, in regard to the ambitious School Housing Master Plan, “Having appropriate facilities will contribute towards creating a safe and conducive learning environment for our children. Credit needs to be given to the steering committee members from the various ministries who support this new vision which has been prepared by our education policy advisor Rosalyn Johnson and Planning Bureau team members Bobby Zagers and Evita Pronk”.
The basis for this article was originally published on www.saba-news.com in April 2022.
