The new school that started being built at Tal-Handaq will cost around Lm3 million and should be ready in three years’ time, Education and Employment Minister Louis Galea said yesterday.

Speaking during a visit to the construction site, Dr Galea praised the work undertaken by the Foundation for Tomorrow’s School, which has ensured that the current school will continue operating without interference until the new premises are built.

The school will have the latest state of the art facilities and will be constructed with energy-saving methods in mind.

It will consist of 40 classrooms, eight science laboratories, seven technology labs, six computer labs, other technical facilities and will also house the administration offices.

Minister Galea said that the Prime Minister’s budget speech had indicated targets for the commencement of works on new schools at Tal-Handaq, Naxxar and Verdala as part f the government’s plan to improve the education sector.

He said that the government was investing tens of millions of liri to upgrade existing school facilities.

Dr Galea said that the Handaq Junior Lyceum began operating in the beginning of the 1980s from buildings used by the British and it was now clearly not up to standard as an educational facility.

He said that a decision with regard to the refurbishment of the existing school buildings would be taken once the construction of the new school, which is being undertaken in the recreational grounds, is completed.

Minister Galea said that new school will be completely accessible to disabled persons and will be equipped with purpose-built lifts.

It will have a car park that can take more than 100 cars and a new road will be constructed outside the perimeter of the school so that the current road which passes through the school grounds will eventually be eliminated.

The minister said that the FTS has already spent over Lm16 million in its school refurbishment programme and has set standards so that our schools can really be said to pertain to the future.

The minister was accompanied by the head of school Paul Attard and FTS president Ray Fenech.