BAILLIESTON, Clarendon — Eight years ago ground was broken and foundation later laid for a reading and computer room at Baillieston Primary in North West Clarendon.

Now, thanks to the persistence of a number of people including Member of Parliament Richard Azan, the project is finally complete.

The November 28 opening of the facility, named the Jasmine Allen block, which also has a new office for the principal, was declared a “red letter day” for the school and the rural community.

Allen, under whose tenure as principal the project began, said she was “greatly humbled” the building was named in her honour. She served the institution for 35 years before retiring.

Current Headmistress Doreen Evans said the facility filled an “important and necessary” need for the school.

“Some years ago … it became evident that our teaching strategies needed to be changed in order to improve the literacy level throughout the grades. The staff then sat down to put a development plan together…To complete the desired programme, the idea of a well-equipped reading and computer room was put forward.

“At the time, the idea sounded unattainable though absolutely important and necessary. Later, with contribution from the Member of Parliament and other stakeholders, some work commenced and foundation was laid. Things slowed down for a while, but there was no giving up….” she said.

Evans said Azan donated the first 1,000 blocks and a ton of steel when the building started. Returning from a four-year break as Member of Parliament — having lost the 2007 national vote to the JLP’s Michael Stern — his efforts were renewed.

“I make a promise right here in June that I would complete this project. I am happy that we were able to complete the project before the time that I was given,” he said.

Azan said that he received $2.8 million through the Ministry of Education to complete the building, and “begged” from other sources 12 of the computers with which the lab was opened.

Continuing a path of development of education in the North West Clarendon constituency, Azan recently broke ground for the construction of a basic school in Ritchies and announced that a basic school is also set to be constructed in the Silent Hill area.

“I am not only looking on one set of schools; my job is to look on every school. I want to see teachers feeling comfortable where they work. When they are comfortable and they are not producing we have a talk, but if they are not comfortable we have no talk. I (am) warning everyone, if you break [into] the building and say you vote for me or help ‘tun up the ting’ or you believe you have the right, forget it. I am one that don’t believe in grilling church and school because we should protect it,” he said.

Businessman Lascelles Chin, who has committed to financing the cost of a surveillance system to the school, described the provision of the facility as an investment in education that will enable more doors of opportunity to be opened to the students.

He said: “If you do very well… in your GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test) [and get] a large percentage pass…then it would be a pleasure for me to do more for you. (I) encourage members of the private sector to get involved in ventures of this kind. Government alone cannot do it, not in Jamaica, not in any part of the world.”

Chin, who is chairman of the Lasco Group of Companies, told the students that with hard work and perseverance they could all be successful.