30 Jan. 2022
Weekly Current (archived version)
Analysing $26 million in public contracts for education services. Silver Palm Studios becomes newest sponsor of Current’s TVET/STEM mini-documentary. UCCI and National Museum team up for speaker series.
And more!
Welcome to this week’s newsletter on education in the Cayman Islands.
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Week In Review
School bus transportation, janitorial services, security and after-school programmes are just a few of the projects education officials outsource to private vendors.
Over the past 2 years, more than $26 million in school-related contracts have been approved by the Public Procurement Committee or otherwise appear on the Cayman Islands government’s central procurement website.
We analysed the minutes of PPC meetings and related procurement documents to create a table of projects, vendors and award amounts.
Here are the biggest items from our list:
- $13.1 million — school bus transport services, 7 vendors
- $3.1 million — janitorial services, 4 vendors
- $1.9 million — security services, National Security Services
- $1.6 million — after-school programme, YMCA of the Cayman Islands
- $1.4 million — laptops for students, Alphasoft Ltd
What’s missing from our analysis are award amounts for contracts related to the $170 million new John Gray High School project (except for a $1.4 million agreement for a ‘multi-discipline team of consultants’), as well as projects including the Bodden Town primary assembly hall, Cayman Brac playfield, wastewater system for Red Bay Primary School and the Lighthouse School, and a fall 2020 bid for bus operation and software.
Procurement documents also do not include the more than $26 million in spending on the government’s free school meals programme, which is delineated in government’s budget documents.
Our story contains details on the vendor contracts, background on the programmes and links to previous reporting on the spending.
(Read our analysis of public education contracts here.)
We are delighted to announce that Silver Palm Studios has become a sponsor of our mini-documentary series on TVET and STEM education. Thank you!
Silver Palm is a local media production studio that provides a full range of audio, visual and graphical services. The company is donating in-kind resources and expertise to enable the post-production work on the Cayman Current’s first in-depth multimedia enterprise journalism project.
“I’m so excited that Silver Palm Studios has the opportunity to contribute to a project with so much significance to the community,” said Jerry Kandiah, Director of Audio Post Production for Silver Palm.
“As a local company that employs and trains young Caymanians in the art and craft of media production, we at Silver Palm greatly appreciate the importance of programmes that help the people of this nation develop the marketable skills they need to carve a path in life,” Kandiah said.
In addition to Silver Palm, our TVET and STEM project is also being supported by sponsors Dart, Health City Cayman Islands and Enterprise Cayman.
We look forward to announcing a media partnership soon that will further enhance the quality and reach of our mini-documentary.
If you’re interested in supporting the project or the Current in general, please email pbrendel@caymancurrent.org or visit our Donations Page.
(Read our story on Silver Palm’s sponsorship here.)
(Read our story on Health City’s sponsorship here.)
(Read our story on Enterprise Cayman’s sponsorship here.)
(Read our story on Dart’s sponsorship here.)
More from the Current
Around The Web
The Current is a central resource for education journalism by others, including regional and international news relevant to Cayman education. (Find our running collection of links here.)
- Cayman Life TV: Classroom of the Month 2021 Look Back
- The Royal Gazette (Bermuda): Row over removal of BUT president from teaching job
- The Royal Gazette (Bermuda): Father to ask for court ruling on legality of coronavirus tests for children’s entry to school
- The Royal Gazette (Bermuda): Education ministry reimposes Covid phase 1 school restrictions
- The Royal Gazette (Bermuda): Ex-private school principal backs changes to public school system
- Jamaica Gleaner: Jamaica needs a better return on education – JSE chairman
- Jamaica Observer: A little more balance in the focus, please
- Eye Witness News (Bahamas): NOTHING PERSONAL: BUT pres. says more than 1,200 teachers engaged in industrial action over return to hybrid learning, working conditions
The Week Ahead
- EdBeat: Episode 28