TUITION SPIKE

PARENTS OF children attending preparatory schools across the island are beginning to face the shock of the impact of the Government’s public sector compensation review on school fees levied by private educational institutions.

With confirmation that school fees will balloon by as much as 37 per cent in some cases, some parents have already been forced to come to terms with having to fork out far more than they expected to pay for tuition in the upcoming school year.

The unusually sharp increase in private school fees has been blamed, in part, on private schools’ need to prevent an exodus of teachers as salaries become more attractive in the public sector.

It is one of the first examples of the potential impact of the Government’s compensation review on the private sector, where employers will now have to consider increasing salaries to incentivise skilled professional workers as they become aware of the salaries and benefits on offer in the public sector. This, in turn, is expected to result in a potential increase in the cost of specific services to members of the public.

The Government’s recent public sector compensation review included an increase in salaries for school teachers, with a trained graduate teacher earning more than $2.8 million since April.

According to Dr Andre Dyer, immediate past president of the Jamaica Independent Schools Association, preparatory schools have their own salary scales based on their operation type. Some schools cater to students who are gifted or have special needs. Hence, he said, qualifications of their staff will differ based on demand, and so, too, will the salaries across institutions.

“If you were working with me, what would happen? Wouldn’t you want to leave and go to the government, where you would get more?” Sister Mary Joseph, principal of Stella Maris Preparatory School, argued as she spoke with The Gleaner yesterday.

The Stella Maris principal said the current tuition for students attending the school is $105,000 per term, and, although she said the Roman Catholic educational institution had not yet settled on an increase, it was inevitable.

“Government nuh give us a chance. We don’t get a subsidy from the Government, and the teachers have to be paid according to their categories,” she said.

However, the principal sought to give the assurance that a fee increase would take “everyone into consideration”.

Parents informed of increase

Meanwhile, in correspondence sent to parents, Mona Preparatory School informed that the tuition would move from $105,500 per term to $145,000.

“The policy of the board of directors at Mona has been to align the compensation of our teachers to that offered to public school teachers. It is also our policy to maintain the standards and quality of service offered, and this means that our fee processes and policies must be just, respectful, compassionate, and transparent,” the correspondence stated.

While it noted that some parents may be experiencing financial difficulties, Mona Prep said the increase was unavoidable as it needed to cover operating costs and maintain service quality.

Dyer, who is also principal of Obistan Kinder Prep, told The Gleaner that private institutions would generally increase tuition by three to five per cent each year and would match salaries to that amount.

He added, however, that this year schools would have to take into account the Government’s compensation review “so they can’t raise by the regular three per cent”.

He noted, however, that his school had not finalised a tuition increase as yet and asserted that for his staff complement of 18 teachers, the advantages of staying in the private schools outweighed the benefit of an increased public-sector salary.

“I’ve had meetings with my staff. They know that they’re going to be getting less than the public sector, but the trade-off is they won’t have a class of 30-40 students,” he said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com