42 + REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

St. Croix Festival Committee-------------- -------------- $1, 500

 Total ----------------------------------- ------- 85, 600

Problem Areas

 The foregoing report demonstrates that the Department of Educa-
tion is fully aware of the driving necessity for educational betterment
and is coming to grips with the problem on a wide front. The con-
tinually rising educational requirements of a dynamic society like
the Virgin Islands are a challenge to the entire educational system.
The magniture of the unfinished task is shown in part in the number
and variety of problems which the schools face in the islands.
 1. Sites and Facilities for Education.-Many of the school facilities,
especially in St. Thomas, are inadequate, from the standpoint of
quantity, to accommodate the number of students enrolled in the sys-
tem and from the standpoint of quality to provide for effective edu-
cation. While 42 classrooms were opened during the year, the number
of classrooms lags far behind requirements. For the school year 1963,
there will be a shortage of approximately 38 classrooms in St. Croix,
22 in St. Thomas, and 4 in St. John. Funds have been provided for
the construction in fiscal year 1963 of about 20 classrooms in St. Croix,
15 classrooms in St. Thomas, and 4 in St. John. None of these are
expected to be ready for occupancy during the school year 1963.
 The result is over-crowding of classrooms and over-taxing of other
school facilities. Scores of students are housed in rented buildings,
lunch rooms, auditoriums and other make-shift classrooms. Several
hundred are being taught in some 28 substandard classrooms all over
St. Thomas. These classrooms are incapable of renovation except at
excessive cost, and the locations are inadequate.
 To provide classrooms in adequate number and in quality for ef-
fective education, the islands need about 64 classrooms to meet cur-
rent enrollment figures and 34 classrooms to replace substandard
rooms and about eight to ten classrooms annually for the next few
years. The latter are needed to house new enrollment as well as
the ever-increasing number of students who remain in school until
they graduate from high school.
 On the basis of enrollment estimates, the following table projects ad-
ditional classroom needs for the next five years in all three islands:

 Island 1961- 1962- 1963- 1966-
 1962 1963 1964 1967

St. Thomas..-------- ---- ------------------------- 64 22 15 35
St. John-.______________-------------------- 4 4 0 4
St. Croix_._____ -- __-__-------------- ---- 30 38 24 36