New Qawra primary school finally sees light of day

A new primary school in Qawra will be receiving students for the first time this week after a three-year delay in construction.

The school, which cost €13 million to build, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Abela and Education Minister Owen Bonnici on Sunday in the presence of two student representatives.

The building is spread over four floors and has 39 air-conditioned classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards, laboratories for vocational learning, sports facilities, a kindergarten and a day care facility for children. An underlying car park can host 400 vehicles.

“Today we are not celebrating the building but the inside of this school... this is the day that celebrates those people – students, educators and parents – who will make this building a school,” Abela said.

The Qawra school will house 650 students (Photo: DOI)

Students will start using the new school this week (Photo: DOI)

He said the education authorities had adopted 50 health and safety measures to make sure schools can reopen safely for students this week.

Education will remain a priority for this government, Abela added.

“The moment we stop investing in education will be the moment that we stop investing in tomorrow,” he said.

Bonnici explained that the school will cater for 650 children and will complement the other primary school in St Paul’s Bay.

He said the government was building new schools according to need, in Victoria and Msida, and was carrying out expansion and modernisation projects in existing ones, such as at the Żejtun secondary. He also said that a school of arts will be inaugurated in Valletta by the end of the year.

The Nationalist Party welcomed the school’s inauguration but noted it was three years late, blaming the Education Ministry for not being capable of finishing it on time.