ST CATHERINE, Jamaica – Member of Parliament (MP) for St Catherine East Central, Alando Terrelonge, has committed to allocating $500,000 towards the construction of a new classroom block to accommodate more students at Cedar Grove Academy in the constituency.

Making his contribution to the 2023/24 State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Terrelonge, who is Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said the funds will be taken from his Constituency Development Fund.

“Owing to growing demands for placement at the school, we continue to petition for the Ministry of Education and Youth to construct a new block to accommodate more students at this centre of academic excellence,” he said.

Terrelonge pointed out that the “young kings and queens” at Cedar Grove Academy continue to demonstrate excellence in all their endeavours.

“Our success rate in the CSEC and CAPE examinations demonstrates that Cedar Grove Academy is a force to be reckoned with, not just in Portmore [St Catherine] but across Jamaica,” he added.

A co-educational institution, the academy’s construction resulted from a partnership forged between the Ministry of Education and Youth and the New Testament Church of God in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

The school was built at a cost of $660 million with Inter-American Development Bank funding support.

It was officially opened in September 2013 to 86 grade-seven students, which later increased to 96.

Cedar Grove Academy is the first institution to be built under the National Education Trust on behalf of the Ministry, and the Education System Transformation Programme.

The school has 20 classrooms, 10 technical workshops, three science laboratories, two computing laboratories, a library, a book rental room, a tuck shop, a storeroom, a kitchen, a multipurpose dining area, and a ramp for the physically challenged.

– JIS