SIXTY INFANTS and their parents are happy for the recent opening of the new Seymour Edwards Infant School in May Pen, Clarendon.

The construction of the three-classroom facility, with a kitchen and administrative area, was financed by the Seymour Edwards Trust and is located on lands owned by it. The school was built at a cost of $29 million and meets the standards of the Early Childhood Commission.

Speaking at the recent opening ceremony, co-founder of the trust, Ruthlin Seymour, said she and co-founder, the late Noel Edwards, were inspired to give the gift of the school because they “believed that the country can only prosper economically and achieve social harmony if the population is educated and every citizen has a skill by which he can provide for himself and his family”.

In his remarks, Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites commended Mrs Seymour for the organisation’s contribution to early childhood education. He noted that she was among a growing group of philanthropic individuals and organisations that have been investing in the sector as a means of contributing to national development.

Minister Thwaites commended the National Education Trust (NET) for its role in engaging the Seymour Edwards Trust, and for being the project manager for the construction of the school. He highlighted the fact that NET also sourced donations of furniture and equipment from Food for the Poor, Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations USA Inc, Clarendon College Alumni Association, Glenmuir Alumni Association, Famfun Entertainment Ltd, and Jamaica School Resources UK.

Seymour Edwards Infant School is the latest of more than 100 early childhood institutions (ECIs) built since 2012, Thwaites said. In addition to the building of new facilities, more than 100 existing ECIs have been refurbished during the same period.