By Damion Mitchell, Staff ReporterWITH FEWER than three weeks to go before the reopening of schools, only two-thirds of the number of persons expected to apply for school fee assistance have done so, Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson said yesterday.
Speaking at The Gleaner's Editors' Forum at the company's North Street offices in downtown Kingston, Mrs. Henry-Wilson disclosed that up to Wednesday, only 27,000 have applied for assistance through the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) or the Cost Sharing programme. The Government has made provisions for 40,000 persons.
In an article published on July 31, public relations officer at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Debbie Tyson, said that while late applicants would not be penalised, they would encounter delays in the processing of their applications.
Meanwhile, the Minister is urging parents in need of assistance to apply through the programmes before the start of the new school term.
Mrs. Henry-Wilson told the Forum that the Ministry was on target in terms of its priorities repairs to school canteens and sanitary facilities. But, she admitted that there were still 'significant gaps'.
She said about $500 million was budgeted to undertake preparatory work for the new year which begins next month. However, this amount is inadequate to facilitate an entirely smooth reopening. "And we are not pretending that we are going
to have 100 per cent repairs," she stressed.
According to the Minister, all requests for additional furniture for grades one to three at the primary school level have been fulfilled. But, the Ministry was yet to satisfy the demand of other grades and more so for high schools, which, she said, posed a greater challenge.
The Education Minister explained that the delay in the delivery of textbooks to schools was due to the hold-up in the signing of contracts with suppliers. The process has since started and the Ministry is contacting schools to advise them of delivery dates.
Mrs. Henry-Wilson said a hotline would be created through which concerns relating to the state of readiness of schools would be communicated to the general public.
