Construction new building Out of School program starts next year
The construction of the new building for the Out of School program is expected to start in the second half of 2022. The area that is designated for the realization of this building is situated in Lynch, to the north of the Governor de Graaff school.
The Public Entity St. Eustatius is responsible for the realization of the project which task has been delegated to the Directorate Social Domain.
A project team coordinates the input from the users of the building in the design phase that recently started, and at a later stage coordinates the construction. Government Commissioner Alida Francis said she is proud that the island reached this stage. ‘’It is expected that the construction will start in the second half of 2022.’’
After inspection of the existing buildings in use for Out of School Programs and after meetings with the stakeholders, it became clear that the current buildings are not in line with the vision and mission of the programs. In addition, the buildings do not meet the quality requirements as stipulated in the Basic Ordinance Childcare.
The Public Entity has the final responsibility for the quality of these programs, which is laid down in this Ordinance. For Statia one of the main aspects of this program is the quality of the buildings. This is the reason why the process started with the development of plans for a building to accommodate the Out of School Programs. Edwin Meyer Viol, the architect who is contracted to design the building and prepare the tender documents, is currently on Statia to meet with the key stakeholders.
Centers
There are 3 centers in Statia that provide out of school care: Mega D Youth Foundation, Daughters of the King and Academic and Professional Training Center (A+). The program BES(t)4KIDS for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba started in 2019 which the objective to improve the overall quality of childcare. It is financed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. The program focusses on children between 6-18 years old during out of school hours. In the future, it is expected that the programs will be used by approximately 300 children.
