SILENT HILL, Clarendon — Happy faces were everywhere as the people of this scenic North West Clarendon community hailed the formal opening recently of an upgraded Walders Run Early Childhood Institution and a connected multi-purpose sports complex.

Surely though, none was more pleased than the teachers at the infant school.

“We have really wanted this for years,” said an elated Jennifer Douglas Seaton, who has taught at what used to be the Walders Run basic school for 16 years.

She explained that before the recent upgrading of the school which cost $25.7 million – provided by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports, and Education (CHASE) Fund – the school was just one long room which served every purpose.

“Whatever events the community had were held here … meetings, wedding receptions, even dance, usually keep in here,” recalled Douglas Seaton.

The modernised facilities dedicated only to school activities include three new classrooms, a furnished kitchen with appliances, perimeter fencing, modern bathroom facilities, sick bay, an administrative block, computer room with six new computers, and a play area, with outdoor play equipment.

The school now has 62 children on roll with three teachers and a cook.

Douglas Seaton was particularly pleased that “the bathroom facilities are more children-friendly, more conducive for the age group, and the furniture suiting the size of the children … before now there were large tables and chairs”.

The total effect, she said, was that “now parents can be sure that their children are in a safe, protected and very educationally conducive learning facility.”

Silent Hill residents seemed equally pleased with a sports complex complete with a small-sized but well grassed football field, multi-purpose courts and perimeter fencing costing $12.2 million covered by the Sports Devbelopment Foundation (SDF).

No sooner had Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller cut the ribbon, formally opening the facility, than gleeful netballers from Silent Hill and neighbouring communities took to the court to show off their skills.

Member of Parliament for North West Clarendon Richard Azan, who said that the two initiatives costing a combined $37.9 million was the “biggest project ever in Silent Hill”, reminded residents that the facilities were theirs to care for.

Noting that until recently the playfield had been a “dust bowl”, Azan said: “Is a lot of money spend here and we have to protect the investment that is here. I don’t want to see anybody tie goat, donkey, cow or anything … you are going to have to protect this project.”

Simpson Miller said that the combined project was in line with her Government’s drive for community development and the furtherance of education despite the monetary cost.

“If you think education is expensive, then try ignorance,” the prime minister said.

“By increasing access to education for our children and improving the standard of our educational facilities, we’re making a significant investment in the future of our nation,” she said.

Project Manager of the CHASE Fund, Paulette Mitchell, pledged that a second floor would be added to the existing building housing the infant school. The second floor will be a cultural community centre.

A sum of $15 million of the required $18.7 million had been approved by CHASE for the community centre and it was expected the rest would come from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), she said.

Denzil Wilks, general manager of the SDF, told the Jamaica Observer that special arrangements should be made by the community leadership and infant school to ensure the sports complex is properly managed.

“The school and the community will have to come up with a mechanism and a plan,” said Wilks, who spoke of how difficult it had been to “transform” the playfield using Bermuda grass in very “trying” drought conditions.

Project officer Donald McNaughton said that the SDF would maintain close “contact and monitoring” of the project.