CIG about to seek consultants to restart JGHS
(CNS): The education ministry has said it will soon embark on a request for proposals for consultants to complete a business case to restart the John Gray High School project. Although the high school gym is nearing completion and McAlpine has already been contracted to do that work, the rest of the project is still some time from being restarted. The contractor at the time, Tom Jones International, walked off both the Clifton Hunter and John Gray development projects in 2009.
Seven years later, government is finally looking to begin again with the long-awaited John Gray campus. Officials revealed this week that Cabinet has approved a strategic outline case for the full project, which was made after consultation with all relevant stakeholders to help shape its vision, design and direction.
“The intention was to deliver a modern school that will improve educational outcomes and equip the nation for the future,” said the chief officer in the education ministry, Christen Suckoo. “A subcommittee was therefore assembled, with representation from the key stakeholders, to research, develop and write the SOC. The subcommittee began by determining what guiding principles there are that connect school design with education outcomes.”
He said research showed that to improve learning and learning spaces, teachers and students must be involved in the development of the design.
The school principal, Jon Clark, said the it was important that teachers were involved in the development of the design principles for the completion of the new JGHS campus. He said an online questionnaire was sent to them asking them to provide input and feedback. “The results of this survey were used as the basis for developing the SOC,” he said.
Officials said the strategic outline case goes into great depth in developing a potential project scope and list of project options that meet the requirements of the key stakeholders. A thorough and rigorous approach was used to ensure that all viable solutions were considered and evaluated in providing new facilities for JGHS and the other educational establishments. A short-list of project options has been recommended in the SOC for further analysis and evaluation in the outline business case (OBC), the ministry said in a release this week.
“With the SOC approved by Cabinet, we are now in the process of preparing an advert and request for proposal document for the procurement of the multi-discipline consultant team required to develop and write the OBC,” Jonathan Matthews, Senior Project Manage, said. “We envisage completing this procurement in the next two months.”
He added, “The OBC will include extensive stakeholder engagement and will build on the thorough approach of the SOC to ensure that new facilities are provided that are fit for purpose, provide centres of excellence in learning and represent value for money to the government.”
Category: development, Education, Local News
I just hope that whoever the consultants turn out to be, they are not the same ones who advised/designed the ridiculous establishment at Frank Sound.
This whole school deal has been a complete mess from day 1 and then it only got worse with us the tax payers getting the shaft. Lets just put these men who are finally getting the place in order to press forward because at the end of the day it is only us as a country who are loosing big time. Stop the petty nonsense and the stupid comments.
Thank you
OMG, more consultants again? When will this ever end!! I think unemployed Caymanians need to pool funds together and set up a Consultancy Firm, the benefits from the Government alone would be overwhelming, but then again I guess they would prefer foreign consultants.
For ‘consultants” read professionally qualified locally based Architects and Engineers…not overseas grand standers or civil servant/drafting staff.
Hire incompetents and you cannot expect accountability.
“…soon embark on a request for proposals for consultants to complete a business case…”
I cringe every time I read these words in the news. If you voted for McKeeva in 2009, you own the fact that this is how every project has to proceed now. Don’t blame the Progressives. They weren’t the ones trying to give the airport to Canada and the port to China with no civil servants in the room.
Why don’t we just elect a bunch of consultants to the LA and cut out the eternally honorable middle men?
then they want to start solar panels? finish one first. first things first?
Why don’t we just elect some consultants, obviously the politicians know nothing about anything so they have to pay someone else to tell them how to do anything.
Really? ANOTHER consultant? And while that process drags on (at least until election time, right?) and costs money, another few years’ worth of graduating classes will come and go with many students poorly educated, unskilled and ill prepared for the job market or making a meaningful contribution. I can only shake my head at yet another reiteration of the notion that a nice building somehow equates to a good education. By all means, make it look nice. But don’t then tell yourself that you are improving the education system which is, by most measures, in complete crisis – for a lot of reasons that have little to do with facilities.
Little to do with facilities and has more to be with poor hiring practices, poor employment conditions, lack of security of job tenure, poor remuneration not to mention the
poor management of education both within schools and the Department of Education.Just look at one chain:
Chief Education Officer
SSIO’s
Headteacher
Deputy Heads
Senior Managers
Teaching and Learning Coordinators
Learning Mentors
SENCOs
School Counsellors
Between them they seem singularly or collectively unable to push schools to anything like competence never mind excellence.
And then you have the teachers,assistant teachers and teaching assistants.Yes, standards have risen dramatically in the last few years but let us not kid ourselves, we still have a mountain to climb and we will be unable to do that with the present quality of management and middle management that is within schools.
Where are these SOC and OBC documents published?
The third world teachers they hire these days play a big part in the problems. You get what you pay for.
Last time I checked Cayman was a third world country.
I would like to offer my consultancy services to the government on which consultants to employ…I am the Consultant of all Consultants!
Ahmjed the Jordanian, is that you?
I think we should look into building a Consultant University.
Firstly, it’s disgusting how transparently the current administration has politicised public education for self-gain. The timing of this development is not coincidental, but intentional – just before parliament is dissolved and an election. Go figure, CIG.
Secondly, what’s the point in spending astronomic sums on modernised facilities when one of the core issues preventing the public system from succeeding remains unresolved? Parenting is substandard on island, generally speaking.
According to the CI Registry, between 2010 and 2015, there were a total of 1,274 babies born on island to women out of wedlock – i.e. single and never married. In that same period, there were also 241 babies born locally to teenagers ages 15-19.
But hey, no one in the CIG really refers to that statistic.
We need more gay married couples. They don’t have babies of their own and can adopt and look after the unwanted ones.
Diogenes do you really need more or want more?
They having babies now. Saw it on the Facebook.
Get your facts right before posting blatently wrong statistics. 241 babies between 2010 and 2015. Where did you pluck that figure from?