By LEDEDRA MARCHE

Senior FN Reporter

For the most part, despite all of the controversy surrounding the reopening of government schools last month, the Ministry of Education is reporting one of the best openings this 2005-2006 academic year.

Based on reports from district superintendents nationwide, Acting Director of Education Cecil Thompson revealed Sunday that Semptember has been one of the best openings, in terms of the physical-planned readiness and staffing.

"The reports we got were most encouraging," he said.

According to acting director, the Ministry of Education is most pleased with its efforts in reopening the schools and while much of the schools are staffed, he pointed out that the ministry is dealing with another challenge: ensuring the teachers are paid on a timely basis.

Waiting for long periods to get paid, Thompson admits, seems to be the "tradition" over the years and the ministry is trying as best it can to break it.

Over all, things have been going well with the exception of a few challenges with repairs to schools, he said.

Schools in East End, Grand Bahama now have an itinerant physical education teacher, two Spanish teachers and a guidance counsellor for the first time.

Another itinerant Spanish teacher is once again servicing the schools in Holmes Rock and West End, which, Thompson notes, is a significant breakthrough.

With one of the ministry's greatest challenges being finding music teachers, the ministry has been unable to find a replacement for the West End and Holmes Rock teacher who has since been reassigned to Eight Mile Rock High after requesting a transfer.

Cyril "Drybread" Ferguson is now the itinerant music teacher for East End, a first for that school.

"We're going throughout the country. The minister has been insistent that where we have Bahamians, particularly in technical areas like music and physical education, that they should be given the first opportunity," said Thompson.

Having been affected by three major storms within 13 months, Thompson said Grand Bahama's teachers managed to salvage the 2004 and 2005 academic years.

Still, there is the problem of overcrowding at the two high schools in Freeport.

At St. Georges, the numbers are peaking over 1,700 while at Jack Hayward there are some 1,300 students in institutions built to accommodate a capacity of 1,000.

"Once we build the Heritage Junior High School it should ease the overcrowding certainly at St. Georges High School," he said.

In the meantime, a temporary solution is being put in place to ease the overcrowding at both high schools by adding additional classrooms.

"This is not a long term thing, this is a short-term thing," he stated.

The National Coordinator Joshua Smith was here a couple of weeks ago and two contractors have been awarded the contract for the work at each of the schools.

It is anticipated that work will begin on the four to six classrooms in less than a month.

Recounting challenges at schools in New Providence, Thompson said students at Yellow Elder Primary, Adelaide Primary, C. R. Walker Senior High School reported one week later because they were undergoing major renovations.

Students at A. F. Adderley reported to school on September 4, but were given an additional three days off at the request of teachers as major work had been carried out at that school – the demolition of the old building with the exception of the auditorium – installed 15 modular classrooms.

The teachers had asked for more time to transfer supplies from the workshop and auditorium to the classrooms.

Barring those challenges, Thompson says things have been going well at those four schools in New Providence and while there are ongoing repairs at A. F. Adderley, it is not affecting operations there.

A computer lab is currently under construction on the premises and the home economics class is complete.

Repairs were also taking place at the school in Long Island and after the PTA held a meeting there, the students were allowed to stay home until repairs were completed.

"A week later the principal had the examinations for ninth and 12th graders come in and I believe everybody came back on the 18th," he revealed.

Challenged with an overcrowding situation in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, Thompson explained that the primary students, mainly of Haitian background, remained on the mainland and attended North Eleuthera Primary and as a result there were space constraints.

The ministry decided to install a modular classroom there to accommodate the additional students.

Considering the magnitude of the repairs, renovations and restoration that were taking place nationwide, Thompson reports, however, that 98 percent of the schools opened on time.