Jan 7, 2000
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Jan 7, 2000 |
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No more boarding subsidy
WESTERN BUREAU: THE CASH-STRAPPED Ministry of Education and Culture has decided to withdraw from September 2000 the more than $20 million in boarding subsidy it provides to secondary schools. "The ministry is facing the pressure to make sure that the budget ceiling is observed," said the minister, Senator Burchell Whiteman. "It is a tough decision which should have come into effect last year, but we felt we had to do it because the priority now is to beef up the primary system." Still, the schools are crying foul, because at most of them the subsidy accounts for at least 40 per cent of the overall boarding costs. But the minister defended his decision in light of the ministry's objective to eradicate illiteracy in primary schools. "While I'm not suggesting that this $20 million will make a big difference across the country, it would be a more meaningful investment if, for example, it is spent on the Summer Reading Programme at the primary level," he said. Hundreds of secondary students at boarding schools islandwide will be affected by the cut. These include Munro College, Westwood High, Hampton High, Knox College and St. Hilda's High. The minister said the grant, which amounts on average to $2 million per school with boarding facilities, is not a major component of their budget and that the ministry would still be picking up the tab to pay salary to ancillary staff at those boarding schools. Sonia Neil, principal of Munro College, said her high school would be making "a desperate bid" to have the government rethink its decision. "We have prepared a document entitled 'A Defence of Boarding at Munro College' and will be leading a deputation to the ministry with a view to convincing them to change their mind," she said. "The escalation of fees could only mean a removal of an egalitarian structure which we currently enjoy to one of elitism." Most parents canvassed by The Gleaner said they preferred a boarding school environment, because of the benefits to be derived in their children's social and academic development. But, according to Mr. Whiteman, it is "a matter of money and not ideology". "More than 100 years after some of these schools were founded we are going against the premise upon which the institutions were built," said Dr. Nadine Scott, past student of Westwood High School and president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA). The boarding schools are now re-evaluating their operations. "We currently receive a subsidy of $8 million annually and if that is withdrawn it could mean an escalated cost of an additional $10,000 per term," Mrs. Neil said. The 120-year-old Westwood High School, Stewart Town, Trelawny, which boards 399 girls from a school population of 664, is also expecting a substantial increase in its current fee of about $20,000 per term. During the Christmas holidays it sent letters to the parents outlining the possible range of escalation. Parents were asked to indicate on a form the appropriate range of fees from three categories $30,000 to $35,000; $35,000 to $38,000 and $38,000 to $40,000 that they could afford. "There are only a few of us (boarding schools) left and if the subsidy is removed then that could spell other problems for us because we are in an isolated location," said Eileen Piggott, the new principal. Chief among the problems would be transportation, Mrs. Piggott said. "It would appear as if this is an attempt to phase out boarding schools in the long term," said a teacher from Hampton High School, Malvern, St.Elizabeth, who spoke on condition of anonymity. |
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