Gozitan students and educators are set to begin the scholastic year next week in a new educational environment after works have been carried out involving an investment of €18 million, the Ministry for Education said on Friday along with the Ministry for Gozo.
The Ministries said that the project involved the building of a new primary school in Rabat, Gozo, which replaced the old school which was around 170 years old. They continued that the project also included the expansion and modernisation of the middle school in the same campus. The Ministries said that the new school is located in the existing educational campus in Victoria, and remarked that this campus is the only one of its kind in the country as it includes a child welfare centre, kindergarten, primary school, middle school, secondary school, as well as sixth form.
Education Minister Clifton Grima said that this project is another which forms part of the “unprecedented infrastructural investment we are making in the education sector”. He said that the new school is modern and equipped with the best possible equipment to be used and benefited from by the educators and students.
Gozo and Planning Minister Clint Camilleri said that now, after 170 years where the Vajrinġa school served its function, Victoria will have a new primary school to meet the educational needs of today and the future. He said that this is an unprecedented investment, “one investment after another in the educational field in Gozo”. He continued that after extensive renovations in Nadur, “and other improvements made during the months in a number of schools in Gozo, today we are experiencing this wonderful environment which in a few days will welcome a number of students and educators”.
Having said that, Camilleri said that the investment “will not stop here”, and that the government is collaborating with the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools to completely renovate two other primary schools during the coming year. He said that the two schools are in Zebbug and Kercem, and that this will be done by ensuring that the students and teachers are not transferred to other schools but will instead remain on site as was done in Nadur.
The Ministries said that the new primary school has 16 classes for the years of primary education and 10 classes for kindergarten, as well as classes for specific subjects, including for science, information technology, and art. They said that the primary school and kindergarten together are able to accommodate around 650 children, and that there is also a child welfare centre and several sports facilities in the new school building.
They continued that the school has a size of approximately 8,000 square meters, with 3,000 of them for children’s sport and recreation.
The Ministries concluded by saying that the excavation and construction works were carried out under the supervision of archaeologists from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, as archaeological remains were found on the site. They said that these remains were preserved by building an archaeological interpretation centre within the school building, and added that this will help the school children in the knowledge of the importance of respecting and cherishing the cultural and historical heritage.