THE 1,350 students of the Crescent Primary and Junior High School in St Catherine should be proud when they return to their school tomorrow.

The school, which was selected as the National Labour Day Project for 2004, got a well needed facelift from nearly 400 volunteers who worked to refurbish the buildings.

Dennis Morrison, chief architect at the Ministry of Education, said the volunteers, including parents, teachers and members of the community, bushed the school grounds, painted the buildings and repaired the bathroom block that had fallen into disrepair. “We are also going to change the roof of the bathroom, and revamp the urinals, toilets and face basins,” he said.

Morrison, who started working from as early as 6:45 yesterday morning said, that 12 trees donated by the National Planning and Environment Agency (NEPA) would be planted on the school grounds.

At the same time, the National Works Agency repainted the pedestrian crossing that had been relocated from directly in front of the school. In addition, workmen were also in the process of constructing two lay-bys to the north of the school gate for public passenger vehicles.

Two driver feedback signs were also installed, as well as two flashing lights and crossing guard signs that were donated by British Caribbean Insurance Company, National Commercial Bank, 3M and the Bank of Nova Scotia.

The project cost was estimated at $1.8 million.

Iris Lewis, principal for the school, said that she was particularly grateful that the bathroom block was going to be repaired. “Ever since they were built up there has been one entrance for the boys and girls and we have been concerned about that,” she said. “Now they have will two entrances and we are very thankful for that.”

The lack of lay-bys was also of grave concern to the principal, as a number of accidents involving students have occurred in that area.

The students were equally thankful for the rehabilitation of their school, particularly the bathrooms. “I feel very happy that they are helping us to clean up our school so that we can have a clean and healthy environment for us to learn in,” said 11 year-old Satin-Marie Labeach.

Twelve year-old Katrice Cooper, whose arm, were covered in paint, said: “This is great because when I leave here the other children will have a clean bathroom and clean classrooms.”

But Labour Day activities in the Corporate Area were very low-keyed yesterday, another stunning reminder that the day, first observed as a day of community service in 1972, was fast losing its significance.

The government was hoping to address, this Labour Day, the deadly problem of pedestrian safety, concentrating on road improvement projects aimed at making the roadways safer for pedestrians.

But except for the brightening of several pedestrian crossings throughout Kingston and St Andrew, the participation in yesterday’s Labour Day activities was noticeably low.

Low participation was also the order of the day throughout several other communities across the island.

In Old Harbour, for example, president of the Claremont Drive Citizens’ Association Caisathus Rodney said that he was disappointed at the lack of interest showed by residents of that community towards the construction of the school.

Work on the school started on Labour Day 2002 but due to inadequate funding had to be done on a phased basis.

However, despite the low turnout Rodney said he would ensure that the project is fully completed by September of this year in time to accommodate students for the new school year.

The drop in participation in Labour Day has obviously irked many, including Elaine Foster-Allen of the Build Jamaica Foundation, although participation in the project she was involved had a fair amount of volunteers.

“May I just appeal to the communities, because what we’ve found is that in some people are not willing to give free labour,” she said. “If we are going to build our own country we are going to have to give something for it.”

The foundation spearheaded work on one of the few projects in the Corporate Area, which involved the building of a modern sanitary facility at the Holiness Basic School in the Waltham Park area.

The project saw the erection of three toilets, one urinal and one washing trough for the school’s 47 students, whose ages range from three to six, to replace a broken down wooden facility the students used up until last Friday.

“I was always concerned about the children’s health and safety and now I feel much better to know that we are getting a better facility,” principal Paulette Kitson told the Observer.

In Grants Pen, many residents assisted with a “physical improvement project” of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

Although working under their own theme of “Working together while putting labour into Labour Day”, many of the activities in the community were in keeping with the national theme “Road safety first -avoid the worst”.