At 10 on Monday November 16, the new Holy Ghost RC School building was officially inaugurated at the school premises in Dangriga. The school project will benefit some 500 students, which are currently housed in temporary buildings.
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The project is one of the largest of its kind to be implemented by the Social Investment Fund (SIF), a statutory body under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Development.Â
The school was constructed at a total cost of $1,153,619.00. Of this amount, $472,911.00 was financed by the Government of Belize through a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and $680,708.00 was a grant from the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF), a program promoting poverty reduction through socio-economic initiatives and community empowerment. BNTF is jointly financed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and nine beneficiary governments, including Belize.Â
The project included the construction of a Ferro-concrete two storey building 219 ft 5 inches long by 31 feet 9 inches wide, including a six feet front verandah. The ground floor has eight standard classrooms (24 ft by 25 ft each), a library (12ft by 25 ft) and a sanitary block with male and female bathrooms. Â
The second floor has eight standard classrooms with a principal’s office and a staff room and two stairways attached to the front verandah.Â
The Guest Speaker for the occasion was Hon. Arthur Roches, Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Dangriga Area Representative. Other speakers included Mr. Aaron Gongora, Mayor of Dangriga, Mrs. Yvonne Casimiro, Principal of Holy Ghost RC School, Mr. Ian McMillan, SIF Executive Director and representatives of the Parent Teachers Association among others.Â
SIF was established in 1996 to respond to the basic human needs of the poorest of the poor in Belize in an efficient, transparent and ethnically sensitive manner utilizing an approach that is participatory, collaborative and demand driven.
