Kevon Felmine

Na­pari­ma Col­lege As­so­ci­a­tion of Past Stu­dents (NAPS) con­tin­ues to make in­roads in its bid to im­prove the lives of the school's stu­dents. On Sat­ur­day the or­gan­i­sa­tion host­ed its sod-turn­ing cer­e­mo­ny for the Pavil­ion Project at the col­lege's play­ground at Lewis Street in San Fer­nan­do. Among those present were past stu­dents, Min­is­ter of State in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter Collin Par­tap, For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Su­ru­jrat­tan Ram­bachan, and Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions Roger Gas­pard. The pavil­ion was com­mis­sioned in 1960 and is sched­uled for an up­grade with an es­ti­mat­ed cost of $1.8 mil­lion. The sev­en acre ground is sched­uled for a re­fur­bish­ment es­ti­mat­ed at $11 mil­lion. The de­signs in­clude the re­struc­tur­ing of the pavil­ion, fenc­ing for the ground, a jog­ging track, a car-park, bleach­ers and courts for lawn ten­nis and vol­ley ball. There are al­so plans for a con­fer­ence room, two chang­ing rooms, and two stor­age rooms.

NAPS pres­i­dent, Fa­reez Khan, ad­mit­ted that the cost was ex­or­bi­tant, but urged mem­bers of the as­so­ci­a­tion to con­tribute to­wards the cause. "We have to start to give more op­por­tu­ni­ties to our chil­dren. By build­ing this fa­cil­i­ty and up­grad­ing the grounds we will get more par­tic­i­pa­tion from stu­dents and par­ents. This project is about grant­i­ng op­por­tu­ni­ties and, mould­ing our young peo­ple and giv­ing them some­thing that they can hold on­to," he said. Min­is­ter Ram­bachan dis­closed that he had con­tact­ed the Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Util­i­ties, Em­manuel George, who an­nounced that T&TEC would pro­vide flood­lights for the grounds. "There are so many things peo­ple can get from the gov­ern­ment in terms of as­sis­tance. All they have to do is come for­ward and ask for it. You have friends in the gov­ern­ment will­ing to work with you in or­der to achieve these things," he said.

San Fer­nan­do may­or Mar­lene Coudray greet­ed the au­di­ence, and ex­pressed her de­light that the pub­lic would have ac­cess to the fa­cil­i­ties. "We at the city cor­po­ra­tion are much hap­pi­er to hear that the or­gan­i­sa­tion have part­nered with us in pro­vid­ing fa­cil­i­ties for the peo­ple of San Fer­nan­do," she said.

Par­tap pledged his sup­port for the as­so­ci­a­tion, and said that the project would reap much ben­e­fits for the pub­lic. "It will help many to en­gage in spend­ing qual­i­ty time with each oth­er...Pos­i­tive at­ti­tude will as­sist in the holis­tic de­vel­op­ment for young peo­ple to suc­ceed." DPP Gas­pard laud­ed the ef­forts of NAPS, and he too pledged his sup­port for the project. He urged oth­ers to make con­tri­bu­tions, and re­mind­ed them that Na­pari­ma Col­lege had been mak­ing sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tion to the com­mu­ni­ty and the coun­try by the type of peo­ple it pro­duced.