The outdoor Sports field is also meant for the community of St. Peters. According to the Minister, this is a "milestone."
"Our students and the St. Peters community at large now have a modern facility for physical education which is an important aspect of our educational vision," she said.
"More importantly, I am charging all the young people who will be making use of the facilities to also be responsible for its upkeep in the sense of making sure that they are not vandalized, defaced in any way, and kept clean and in good shape at all times," the Minister added.
The urgency of this project came about after Hurricane Luis in 1995, when the gym halls were destroyed. , The need for the new sports facilities was made very clear during discussions as far back as 2005/2006 between DERPI and the school boards concerning infrastructure.
It was made part of an overall infrastructural plan for the PSVE schools.In this regard, St. Maarten Academy PSVE was the first school to open its gym hall in 2009.
The construction process for these Gyms started in the beginning of 2008. The construction team consists of representatives of VROMI , USONA, Pream Architects and Cypress Construction; the project was managed by DERPI. The construction process took longer than originally planned due to some technical problems.
All the problems have been solved and the gym halls can finally be put to use. The project was financed by Dutch Development Funds through USONA in the amount of NAF 3,750,000.
