IT WILL COST about $20 million for Government to build one new secondary school.

But Barbados needs at least two additional schools to ease the population burden on existing schools.

Chief Education Officer Dr Wendy Griffith-Watson said yesterday that since the closure of the Louis Lynch Secondary School and the placement of its 600 students at other secondary schools across Barbados, additional teachers were allocated to accommodate the numbers.

However, she said during an interview that another school was needed to replace Louis Lynch and an additional one to ease schools with rolls of 1 000 or more.

"There are not many, but 1 000 students on one compound can be very frustrating," she said. The Chief Education Officer said an adequate number of students for a class was 20 to 25, and that numbers of 30 and over were too much.

However, she told reporters, it was a matter of money to build the new schools.

Meanwhile, Griffith-Watson said preparations for the opening of the new school year in September were going according to plan.

She noted that Minister of Education Ronald Jones would be touring the Garrison Secondary School, St Ambrose Primary and Ann Hill School soon.

However, she noted that work at the Ann Hill School would not be completed in time for September 1, and students would remain at the Irvin Wilson compound until October 1.

She added that St Ambrose Primary was on track, while there were problems with two or three classrooms at the Garrison Secondary. Nonetheless, she stressed that that school there would still be ready.

Principal of the Garrison Secondary School, Matthew Farley, said the school was receiving 180 students from 50 primary schools next month. (JR-B)