thebahamasweekly.com - Minister of Education Clarifies Agreement With the Adventist Church

From:TheBahamasWeekly.com

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Minister of Education Clarifies Agreement With the Adventist Church
By Bahamas Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
Jun 26, 2017 - 11:17:58 AM

Re: The Former Bahamas Academy

Nassau, Bahamas - The Minister of Education, the Hon. Jeffrey Lloyd, met on Sunday with Pastors Paul Scavella, Peter Joseph, and C. Melvin Lewis of the South Bahamas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to discuss issues arising from the ongoing refurbishment of the Bahamas Academy school site on Wulff Road and the Minister’s contribution to the budget debate. Pastor Leonard Johnson, head of the regional office for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, could not attend because of church business overseas.

It was noted that despite the fact that a lease agreement had been drawn up, the same had not been signed by the Ministry after more than two years of occupation, renovation, and construction on the site by the Ministry. Further, the Church had not been paid any rent or received any other monies nor was it in any manner involved with any financial transactions relating to the Ministry’s occupation, renovation, and construction.

Pastor Scavella stated that the Seventh-day Adventist Church had only tried in good faith, having been approached by the Ministry of Education, to assist in providing an identified venue to address the specific needs of the Ministry of Education. He further said that when it became apparent that the agreed scope of work was being extended without consultation by the Ministry, he had intervened to stop further work until the matters were regularized.
The Minister thanked the clergymen for their obvious sincerity and efforts and noted that without the outstanding contributions of the Adventist church and other Christian Denominations to education, through its denominational schools which they have founded, the government would face an almost insurmountable task in guaranteeing universal access to education.