Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the Rt. Hon Perry G. Christie, was in Grand Bahama on Thursday, September 8, for the Ground Breaking and Contract Signing Ceremony for the West Grand Bahama Junior High School.

This $11.5 million facility will be the first school built in the area since 1967.

The Prime Minister said it was a privilege to hear Minister Obie Wilchcombe thank him, as he had to hold back tears when listening to the Tourism Minister and Member of Parliament for West Grand Bahama, describe him.

"It's not often in public life, no matter how much you give and do, that people speak well of you."

Whatever is going on in The Bahamas, he said, as Prime Minister he takes responsibility for it and for two elections, he heard Minister Wilchcombe promise this school. "And when I started the Cabinet at the beginning of our term in 2012, I reminded him and the Cabinet of sitting on a platform in Freeport and Eight Mile Rock and listening to him promise this school."

He said, "Governance is never, never easy. In a country like the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, we are a chain of islands spread over 100,000 square miles of ocean. There is a compelling obligation to recognize that every child in every part of our Commonwealth deserves to share in what our country has to give.

"So even though we are here today, we have to be mindful of the obligation of the Minister of Education to know that the child in Bimini or the child in Inagua or the child in Mayaguana, that child is looking to the Central Government to give him and her an opportunity to be the best they can at all times."

Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, addresses the audience in Grand Bahama on Thursday, September 8, 2016 at Ground Breaking and Contract Signing for an $11.5 million Junior High School in Holmes Rock. (BIS Photo/Vandyke Hepburn)

The children who performed during the ceremony from Holmes Rock Primary School and West End Primary School, he said, are the future. "Before their eyes," he said, "this Junior High School will develop and those same children will move from their primary school to this Junior High School."

It is hoped, he said, they will all be able to witness and participate in the opening of the school which should be completed in 18 months.

Prime Minister Christie said that the government will build them a building; however the quality of the education takes place within the four walls. "You judge the school by how it influences the minds of your children." He told parents, "It can't work if parents do not participate with their children in the school."

He emphasized, no child should be left behind.

Sharing his own struggles in school as a young boy, the Prime Minister revealed he was put out of school at 14 years of age, but veteran educator Donald Davis stepped in and assisted. The Prime Minister took exams with his sister who was three years younger, passed them, and his parents sent him to England, where he went to University and the rest is history.

He continued that, out of the need to assist children who have made mistakes or can't learn because of their circumstances, preparations are being made for a facility "where we will dedicate resources for these children who now go to some churches or Urban Renewal. They will be given the opportunity to catch themselves and be put back into the system."

Turning his attention to the wider community and Freeport’s economy, Prime Minister Christie said he, along with the Minister of Tourism, the Attorney General, Minister of Education, and Minister for Grand Bahama, recently traveled to London to meet with major Grand Bahama stakeholders -- people who have multibillion dollar investments: “we wanted to continue with the process we initiated through Parliament in changing the face of how Freeport is operated.”

The Prime Minister asked why are there private jets parked at airports in New Providence, Abaco, North Eleuthera and Exuma, but not in Freeport.

"Where is the impetus for the economy of Grand Bahama?"

He said “All must be ready to move to a new paradigm in the operations of Freeport and you will see that happen before your very eyes; you will participate for the betterment of Grand Bahama and yourselves in what is going to take place."

Also present for the Ground Breaking and Contract Signing Ceremony were: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Urban Development, the Hon. Philip Davis; Minister of Tourism, and Member of Parliament for West Grand Bahama and Bimini, the Hon. Obie Wilchcombe; Minister of Education, Science and Technology, the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald; and Minister for Grand Bahama, the Hon. Dr. Michael Darville.

By Robyn Adderley

Bahamas Information Services