(PLTM) - Not-for-profit foundation, Unite BVI has pledged to donate $1M towards the rebuilding of the Bregado Flax Educational Centre (BFEC) Secondary Division on Virgin Gorda (VG).
Hon. Myron Walwyn, Minister of Education and Culture, made the disclosure following a meeting held on Tuesday, January 9.
“Just came to an agreement in principle with Unite BVI to donate One Million USD (1 M USD) towards the rebuilding of the Bregado Flax Educational Centre Secondary Division. I will be meeting with one more donor this week for some additional money towards the same institution,” he said.
Unite BVI is based in the BVI, and states that it works towards a thriving future for the beautiful islands and communities, to empower prosperity.
Under the proposed $721M Recovery and Development Plan for the Territory, $43.59M is earmarked for education, including rebuilding of schools.
According to the plan, the immediate priority is to get temporary facilities to accommodate classes across the Territory, whilst the plans for the short term repair and replacement of the permanent infrastructure is executed and the long-term plans for modernizing educational infrastructure is developed.
Other priorities include working in collaboration with the Department of Disaster Management on the Safe/SMART school project, which envisions that all schools will be built and re-built with these tenets in mind; restoring school grounds for recreational activities and building new recreational facilities; and incorporating technology, including laptops and tablets, more extensively to aid student learning.
Also, supplying Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDC) further developing special needs programmes and providing psycho-social support to faculty and students; and exploring new technologies for refurbishing and rebuilding schools to meet modern standards and educational needs, including standardized designs and modular construction that are cost effective to build, can withstand natural disasters, and deliver an environment that supports learning.