MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The long overcrowded McIntosh Memorial Primary School in Manchester Central now has a new eight-classroom block.

The Mandeville Primary and Junior High, another institution teeming with students, should also be benefiting from expansion soon.

During a recent tour of schools in Manchester Central, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Education Minister Rev Ronald Thwaites and Manchester Central Member of Parliament Peter Bunting were part of a contract-signing and ground-breaking ceremony for the latter project.

Simpson Miller said expansion at the Mandeville Primary and Junior High is being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Jamaica at a cost of $64 million. It is to be implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund.

Government’s information arm, Jamaica Information Service, said the project is slated for completion by mid-2016, and is expected to result in the elimination of the double-shift system currently in place for the over 2,000 enrolled students.

Simpson Miller said the completed work at McIntosh Memorial will cost more than $25 million.

The two schools boast of having done well despite less than ideal conditions, including congestion.

Among McIntosh Memorial’s achievements this year is student Shamari Ricketts receiving the Aubrey Phillips Scholarship for excellence in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

The school had a 97 per cent mastery in the Grade 4 Literacy test, 88 per cent mastery in Grade 4 Numeracy test, and a 97 per cent average in student attendance for September.

The school was seventh of 190 schools that were part of a Math Olympiad, and was graded as “good” in overall effectiveness by the National Education Inspectorate.

For Mandeville Primary and Junior High, Brianna Barnaby received a Government Scholarship at GSAT for 100 per cent mastery in all subjects.

There was an 89.4 per cent achievement rate in the Grade Four Literacy Test and 62 per cent in Grade Four Numeracy, while student Jevaughn Pinnock received full marks in Mathematics at the Grade Nine Achievement Test.

Mandeville Primary and Junior High were also the Jamaica Cricket Association parish champions.

Thwaites told parents and residents at a ceremony at McIntosh Memorial that growth should not only be seen as the amount of money available, but also for availability and use of education and training.

“Don’t only measure growth by the amount of money in your pocket. …We need that, we need jobs too, but… the most fundamental element of growth is what is in yuh pickney head and how they behave themselves,” he said.

Simpson Miller said that her Administration has given special attention to education as it is the foundation for social and economic growth and prosperity.

The tour of educational institutions in Manchester Central also included visits to the grant-aided Belair High School, Mt St Joseph High, and Zion Hill Primary which have all benefited from increased class rooms.

Bunting, who will be seeking his third term as Member of Parliament for Manchester Central in the next parliamentary election, reiterated his ambition for the transformation of his constitutency into a “centre of excellence for the knowledge-based industries”. He described achievements thus far as a story of how to “tun yuh han mek fashion”.

He said that instead of putting in place a plan for one new school, a way was found to improve and expand more infrastructure with less funding.

“Sometimes you feel you are working to win the next election. Today, I feel I am working for the next generation…,” Bunting, who also has ministerial responsibility for national security, told the audience.