New building plan and crucifixes for Papar mission school blessed

PAPAR – The new building plan and crucifixes for SMK St Joseph here were blessed by Father Thomas Yip on 17 Mar 2017.

The simple ceremony was held at the site of the new school building block at 2.30pm and witnessed by Lightson Kohiya, chairman of the school Board of Governors, Sulis Ambud, engineering consultant, Peter Paun, new principal of SMK  St Joseph,  Jenith Mahibol and Sylvester John Asun, senior assistants,  seminarian Gilbert Marcus, teachers and students.

The large crucifix will been affixed outside the administration building , just above the school crest, while the smaller crucifixes will be affixed in all  the classrooms, in an effort to bring back the mission school’s identity (as per issuance of the circular Bilangan 1 Tahun 2013 of the Ministry of Education).

In 2016,  Archbishop John Wong officiated the ground breaking and blessing of the site for two new four-storey school building blocks on Mar 21. The estimated cost of the building project is  RM4.5 million. Funding of the building project comes from Government assistance, fund-raising charity dinner, raffles tickets sales and other fundraisers.

The construction of new school building blocks has become the main agenda for the Josephians as the number of student enrollment increases. The existing wooden building blocks are too dilapidated for continual maintenance and expansion.

In addition, the high cost of maintenance has prompted the school’s Alumni and BOG to opt for the construction of new blocks instead. – William Charles Mindus, SOCCOM Papar- Limbahau