The government may be criticised for its spending policy, but at least its investments should cultivate goodwill amongst the Surinamese people. So far the presidential emergency 'Crash Programme' for the construction of new schools has provided 320 classrooms and, according to the Government, this should increase to 361 in the near future.
The power that President Desi Bouterse exerts through his committees and task forces has been criticised before. Political opponents argue that this form of policy is both "dictatorial and undemocratic". But it has also been demonstrated that these committees and task forces are an efficient way of delivering results. As an example the Presidential Task Force on Educational Innovation had to map the reasons for the disappointing exam results achieved by the various educational institutions. At very short notice it had advised on problems in 119 Surinamese schools and their results have been improved.
The programme involves both renovations and new construction projects. According to the government dozens of public facilities, restrooms, multimedia libraries, and ICT classrooms are being built. The total cost of the first phase of the project was around US$3.7 million.
The Task Force has not yet finished its work. The total Crash Programme budget is US$12.9 million. An inventory of the work that still has to be done has not yet been published.
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© 2013 Menas Associates
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