Public School Fees ?ILLEGAL?

Wed, Sep 17th 2008, 12:00 AM

On the heels of a directive from the Minister of Education ordering school administrators to stop preventing children from attending public schools because their parents or guardians can?t afford certain school-instituted fees, a senior education official has disclosed that there is no legislative basis for the fees.

On the heels of a directive from the Minister of Education ordering school administrators to stop preventing children from attending public schools because their parents or guardians can?t afford certain school-instituted fees, a senior education official has disclosed that there is no legislative basis for the fees.

However, the education source ? who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject ? stressed that all public schools charge fees to help subsidize educational needs of students, and that the fees are not new.

"These fees have always been around," the official said.

"The minister put it best by stating that no administrator has the right to keep a student out of school because those fees are not paid."

The official made it clear however, that there is no legislation for these fees and that they need to be regularized.

"The fees include things such as workbooks, ties, jackets and physical education kits," the source said.

"They evolved as a result of practices in the public school system."

The Journal learnt that school district superintendents, the acting director of education and with the minister were locked in meetings all day Monday with the "fee" issue on the agenda.

According to the source, the primary function for these fees is to provide basic tools of learning.

There are also some technical fees included, such as a computer lab fee, the source said.

For example the fee at Gerald Cash Primary School is $25, while at Freeport Primary School it is $10, at C.C. Sweeting Junior High School it is $90 and at Government High School it is $90.

The education official told the Journal that perhaps parents are not putting the emphasis in the right places.

"They (students) come to school with the Land belts and the Kipling bags," the source said. "The priorities are not straight because they have those things and don?t have the necessary tools to learn."

Over the weekend, education minister Carl Bethel ordered that the practice by some public schools of barring students from attending school because their parents or guardians cannot pay school-imposed "registration" and other fees must cease immediately.

Minister of Education Carl Bethel disclosed in a press release on Saturday that his ministry has found out that as a result of parents not being able to come up with those fees, their children have not been allowed to attend classes.

The press release stated that under no circumstances should any child in any school in any settlement or district in any island throughout the country be prevented from attending classes in any public school because of a lack of money.

By Sasha L. Lightbourne

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