Last Updated on June 19, 2026, 6:44 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The government of St Kitts and Nevis has announced that they want to reopen the Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School for the January 2027 semester. The Ministry of Public Works and Public infrastructure shared the updates on the pace of the construction during a recent press conference.
According to the update shared by the Ministry, the construction of the new campus was started in 2025. The original building was destroyed in a fire in March 2022 after an arsonist set the building on fire in the middle of the night.
The students had to relocate to a different location and the plans for the reconstruction of the school were started. The government officials have confirmed that the construction is being done at a satisfactory pace.
The officials also highlighted that this was a very unique project which the administration has engaged three different contractors. The officials confirmed that there are three active construction sites happening at the same time.
The officials have shared that the new structure will be different from the building which was destroyed by the fire. The public works department has designed a state-of-the-art structure to improve the quality of education for the students.
They added that the staff and members of the community will also see the difference between the two structures. While the previous building was constructed within the area of 8,400 square feet, the new building is being constructed within the increased square footage of 25,500 square feet, over triple the size of the previous building.
The teachers within this new Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School will get a larger staff room, a dedicated dining area. The teachers will also get access to other points to hang out outside of the staff areas.
The students will also get access to bigger classrooms whose size will be over 1.5 times the size of the classrooms in the old building. The children will also get access to state of the art library and laboratories to conduct their experiments.
The officials have confirmed that they expect the construction for the school to complete by late 2026. This will allow for the opening of the school for the 2027 session.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
