TOP Hill in Clarendon is in receipt of a new early childhood institution — the Evelyn Mitchell Infant School/Centre of Excellence — thanks to the generosity of Cari-Med Limited.

“I take great pleasure in handing over the school to the Jamaica Baptist Union, an organisation for which my family and I owe a debt of gratitude,” said Cari-Med chief executive officer Glen Christian at the official hand-over ceremony in the parish on Thursday.

“Both of my parents were members of the Privilege Baptist Church, which was the place my siblings and many of our children got the moral foundation and spiritual teaching that helped us to become responsible and respectable people,” he added.

“We are confident that this school is now part of a far-reaching effort to educate our people. This school is personally significant to me because it has given me, my family and the Cari-Med family a chance to give back to our country in a lasting and meaningful way by supporting early childhood education,” Christian said further.

The 70-million institution — the first major project undertaken by the Cari-Med Foundation since its inception in 2007 — has four classroom blocks, each with its own bathroom; a library. It also has:

* an administrative building which houses the principal’s office;

* an auditorium named in honour of Hilda Grant, a Sunday School teacher at Privilege Baptist Church, who was instrumental in bringing the need for the new facility to Christian’s attention; in addition to

* a multi-purpose area, a sick bay, a canteen, a kitchenette, and a storage room.

The new school effectively merges the four previously existing early childhood institutions in Northern Clarendon — Top Hill Basic, Brandon Hill Basic, Turtle Pond Basic, and Johnnies Hill Basic, all of which were closed last year.

Prime Minister Golding, who was present at the hand-over, urged community members to take care of the new facility, noting that education was the way to realising progress.

“Protect your school… This is the community’s property. This is the community’s institution. It is the community’s ladder to prosperity and success,” he said.

At the same time, Golding lauded the foundation’s vision, adding that “Every dollar we invest in early childhood education is perhaps equivalent to $10 (or more) invested later in the learning process. If we enable them to be focused then the chances of them gaining success as they get older is so much greater.”

Education minister Andrew Holness, for his part, said the school was the first infant school to be listed as a Centre of Excellence and, like the prime minister, urged communities to take care of it.

Meanwhile, the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund donated a bus which will provide a free pick-up and drop-off school bus service for the children. CHASE will maintain the bus for one year.

The Evelyn Mitchell Infant School Centre of Excellence is named in memory of the mother of the Cari-Med Foundation chairman.