As part of her visit to St. Eustatius, Minister Jet Bussemaker of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) revealed a plaque at the Bethel Methodist School (BMS) on Tuesday morning. She did this during the festive opening of the newly renovated school.
The Minister congratulated the school with the new premises and stressed the importance of good educational accommodation in striving to offer students in the Caribbean Netherlands the best opportunities for a bright future.
The school complex of the BMS consists of two buildings. The oldest, which contained four classrooms and a few office spaces, has been renovated drastically between February and November 2016. The construction is made hurricane and earthquake proof and also the construction of the roof is completely renewed. The other building, consisting of two floors, has also been addressed. For both buildings the ceilings, climate control installations and the sanitation have been upgraded or replaced. The school premise has been improved as well. The terrain around the schoolyard has been hardened in order to reduce the amount of dust and to prevent erosion during heavy rainfall. Also construction of the “overdekte” has been renovated to resist hurricanes and earthquakes. It has also been equipped with new toilets.
The realization of this renovation project for the Bethel Methodist School is part of the school housing plan for St. Eustatius, which is funded by the Public Entity St. Eustatius and the Ministry of OCW. The ‘Rijksvastgoedbedrijf’ is coordinating the execution of the various projects that are part of this plan on behalf the Public Entity St. Eustatius and the Ministry of OCW .