May 18 - Government Astonished By Former GSD Minister Claims
The Government has challenged claims from former Minister for Education, Clive Beltran, on the construction to two new schools at the old St Bernard’s Hospital, which he said was a work in progress.
A spokesman for No 6 said: “The GSD manifesto for the 2007 elections stated that the GSD would build First and Middle schools "at each of Mid-town development and the old St Bernard's Hospital.
“By 2011, the GSD had not built any First or Middle school either at Mid-town or the old St Bernard's Hospital or anywhere else for that matter. In fact, they had not even started the construction of any school despite their clear promise in 2007.
“If the construction of the two new schools had been work in progress as Mr Beltran claims, the GSD's 2011 manifesto would surely have said so. It would be astonishing if a Government was building two new schools and fail to say so in their manifesto. Instead, their manifesto merely stated that they would conduct a review to assess the optimum locations and relocations of schools.
“The reality, of course, is that these new schools were not started by the GSD nor was the construction of the schools work in progress. The GSD's 2011 manifesto demonstrates this.
“The GSD may have short memories but the public do not. When the time comes to compare the GSD record on education with that of the GSLP/Liberals, Mr Feetham's party will be found as wanting in this area of policy as they will in so many others, not least their now admitted shift away from their previous flagship policy of combining both comprehensive schools at Rooke. This was another huge error of judgment which, had Mr Feetham implemented it, would have caused considerable harm to secondary education in Gibraltar.”
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