A $7.3-million contract for the expansion and upgrading of the Boston Primary and Infant School, was signed last week by representatives of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund and the Boston community in Portland.

The work will involve the completion of an unfinished classroom and the construction of a new one, as well as building new bathrooms, a sickbay and storeroom. In addition, the school will be provided with a play area equipped with swing, seesaw, jungle gym, slide and sandpit.

The project, which is expected to be completed in three months, will benefit 350 students at the school.

Owen Sweeny, operations manager at the JSIF, congratulated the residents of Boston for the community spirit they have displayed in the planning of the project. He said that the effort by the community to get the project off the ground was a clear indication that the residents of Boston placed high priority on early childhood education.

Noting that the implementation of the project marked another worthwhile investment by JSIF in the parish of Portland and in the country’s education system, Sweeny said $31 million had been invested in the construction and upgrading of 11 schools in the parish since 1996.

He added that the total investment by the JSIF in Portland was close to $100 million, with most of the money going towards 29 poverty alleviation and community development projects.

Gangolf Schmidt, technical advisor to the European Union, in the meanwhile, pledged the EU’s support for the project while Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture representative, L Wilson, gave the assurance that the ministry would help to furnish the new classrooms.