By Francine Black, Staff ReporterHALFWAY THROUGH the school year, outstanding school fees have been added to the list of financial problems affecting some secondary schools, as many parents who can afford it have refused to pay.
Checks at some secondary schools across the island showed that outstanding school fees was a cause for concern. According to Wesley Barrett, chief education officer at the Ministry of Education, reports have come in from schools which have experienced problems collecting fees.
"We have re-ceived reports from a number of schools that a number of students whose parents can afford to pay have not paid the school fees," he said.
Officials of the Seaforth High School in St. Thomas and Christiana High in Manchester said their operations had been severely affected by the non-payment of fees.
"We sometimes have to use arm-twisting letters and make subtle threats such as 'mid-terms are approaching and if you do not pay then your child will not be allowed to sit the exams'," principal Hopeton Henry told The Gleaner.
He said that while some parents comply, others ignore the request because they are aware of the Ministry's policy on the issue.
1990S POLICY
In the mid-1990s the Education Ministry introduced a policy which stated that no student should be sent home because of parents' inability to pay school fees. The policy was created in light of the Ministry's intervention to provide assistance for parents having problems finding the fees. This assistance includes the cost-sharing programme and most recently the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH).
NEGLIGIBLE COMPLIANCE
At Christiana High, the situation is even worse with a very small compliance rate among students. According to vice-principal Claude Rattray, of a student population of 2,500, possibly up to 90 per cent have not paid their fees. School officials' only avenue of collection continues to be a reminder system whereby parents are sent letters encouraging them to pay.
Officials at the Westwood High School in Trelawny took drastic steps to deal with the non-payment problem, preventing students (whose parents had not paid the fees) from taking their break period.
The principal's office said they had sent out numerous reminders to parents leading up to the reopening of school on Monday, and had even encouraged parents to make arrangements if they could not afford to pay. However, this was not done and as such action was taken.
