The European Command of US Forces (US EUCOM), through its Office of Defense Cooperation at the US Embassy in BiH, will finance a project of renovating an elementary school with special needs “Mjedenica”, which is worth 400.000 dollars.
Investors chose a contractor and signed an agreement with them, so that repair and renovation of the school should start this week.
According to Mirsad Asimović, the Director of the Institute for Special Education and the Care of Children “Mjedenica”, they will work on heating the building and installing thermal insulation, repairing the exterior and interior woodwork, repair of sheet metal parts and repair roofs, which is currently more essential. The heating of the building is estimated to save energy by up to 30 percent.
“Our discussions went in that direction and the basic philosophy is to heat the building and save energy. This is the first time in the last 40 years that such care is being taken for a detailed rehabilitation of an Institute, given that until now there has only been patching up and maintenance of the building’’, said Asimović, and added that this facility was built before WWII and that it needs constant attention.
According to the Mayor of Stari Grad in Sarajevo Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, the idea on cooperation emerged in discussions with several officials of the US Embassy to BiH.
“Last year, we sent a proposal to the US Embassy for rehabilitation of “Mjedenica” with a bill of quantity and today this agreement is finalized and we could say that we have succeeded in our intents. Children at this Institute will finally have a better area to stay in and work, and I am pleased for this”, said Hadžibajrić.
The Institute for Special Education and Care of Children “Mjedenica” is attended by more than 160 children, from preschoolers to adults in occupational workshops.
Director Asimović added that the main problems of these children are development difficulties on an intellectual level. “In the period after the war the number of children with multiple disabilities such as speech, motor skills and mental states increased, and more children were suffering from autism’’, said Asimović.
The special primary school in the Institute currently has 102 students, around 30 participants in the occupational workshops, and around 28 children in the nursery. Children do not currently attend because they are on holiday.
Officially, the deadline for completion of all works is 90 days.
