Outstanding subsidy paid to reclassified schools
published: Friday | November 28, 2003
By Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
CHIEF EDUCATION Officer, Wesley Barrett, said yesterday that the Ministry of Education has began disbursing the second half of the subsidy owed to reclassified (upgraded) high schools for increases over last year's school fees.
"A few schools have collected and by tomorrow the rest of the schools should have received it," Barrett told The Gleaner.
His comments followed Wednesday's statements by members of the Association of Principals and Vice-Principals at a Gleaner Editors' Forum that the significant shortage of funds at reclassified high schools was being compounded by the Ministry's failure to pay over the remaining subsidy.
The Ministry had paid the initial sum earlier this year.
But despite the Ministry's statement, one reclassified school Alston High in St. Catherine said it would be forced to postpone its end of term and CXC mock examinations because of inadequate funds to source stationery.
"That (the subsidy) would allow us to do the basic things (but) I am not going to have the end of term exams," said principal, Yvonne Kong. In addition, she said that the school was still unable to fund the repair of equipment which were damaged during a recent power surge.
Kong said she was expecting just over $260,000 in subsidy by early next week. However, further delays in receipt of $3 million in school fees owed by the Ministry for beneficiaries of the Government's school fee assistance programmes would result in closure of the institution.
On Wednesday, the principals warned that some parents' ongoing delinquency in paying their children's tuition fees and the lack of additional funding expected from the Ministry would result in majority of reclassified high schools facing closure come January.
Kong said only 11 of the 855 students enrolled at her school had paid their fee of $5,500 in full, while 203 had paid a part.
The above, coupled with $251,000 in subsidy she received from the Ministry, represented only $600,000 of $4.5 million needed to run the school.
