Technical experts engaged to assist with school maintenance- Hon Sharie B. de Castro
Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Sports, Honourable Sharie B. de Castro (AL), shared this information during the Umoja programme on ZBVI 780 AM on February 19, 2025. She revealed that the ministry has engaged technical experts to assist with school maintenance.
'Trained individuals'
"We already started to work on fixing our approach to school maintenance. One of the things that has helped us is that we have some technical experts in the Ministry of Education, specific to education."
The minister mentioned that two positions were created within the ministry: Chief of School Infrastructure and Building Supervisor, both filled by engineers. This initiative has significantly supported the ministry's infrastructure mandate over the past two years.
"These guys are trained individuals who know what to do, and so we are actively responding and shifting," she added.
'Electronic platform for maintenance reporting created'
Hon de Castro noted that an electronic platform was also created for maintenance needs, where the school principals can access to report issues.
The minister emphasised that the ministry is working to ensure that school maintenance is carried out during the Easter break and the summer months.
"So we have been reviewing our approach to school maintenance because we have a very short window in the summer where we can get work done, and that is why we have thoughtful funding upfront in the budget."
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18 Responses to “Technical experts engaged to assist with school maintenance- Hon Sharie B. de Castro”
Facility management/engineering is about the people, places, processes, technology, etc, driving the safety, functionality, and effectiveness/efficiency of work processes.l, output, outcomes. Moreover, every agency should have a facility master plan and should include a recapitalization plan.
Leonard, you bringing an experienced, higher level take, IFMA trained and certification to facilities management. IMO, though, as we always debate, what is first needed first is adopting the attitude that if we build it, we must effectively maintain it. The public sector as you know does not properly maintain what it owns but has a passion to build more, adding to the neglect. Rattler, you have laid a free plan and approach for managing facilities. Further, the BVI is too small for every department, division , having its own facilities management unit. As Rattler noted, a centralized unit should be able to serve the needs of the whole territory, capitalizing on the economy of scale and scope. Rattler, I assume that your Phrase Hear dis ya is intended for us to pay attention. True, your suggested plan of action is a good working template. Having an engineer leading the facilities is good but the efforts can also be effectively led by knowledgeable, experienced, facilities folks.
@ Cuz, tru dem does go way, go foreign and don’t cum baK but can you blame dem. When dey cum bak, we treat dem like sh**. Tortola people favor outsiders over dem own. Wassup wid dat? Bunch of crabs in a bucket.
She needs to get the schools together. The principals are treating the teachers like sh** in some of these schools and the teachers have no one to complain to because the principals and those in the ministry are best of friends .
What works in theory does not translate here on these shores due to the fiscal issues. So if the money ain't there then the infrastructure suffers as is evident daily.