MCINTOSH
SOME EDUCATORS have attributed the non-compliance of students on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) to the small sum of money allocated to each family.
The educators were reacting to a revelation by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security that 35,000 beneficiaries were suspended from the programme because of non-compliance.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alvin McIntosh, told Parliament's Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday, that most of the suspended beneficiaries were students.
Mr. McIntosh said that under the programme, beneficiaries are required to have 85 per cent school attendance and regular visits to health centres.
But when The Gleaner contacted educators in western Jamaica, which up to recently recorded the highest number of non-compliance, they complained that the money allocated to the family was too small.
"...The money is not enough; it is just a drop in the bucket," said a teacher from Petersfield Primary in Westmoreland.
TRUANCY
She said that the reasons given by the parents who have been suspended from the programme varied. Either the students were absent from school because they were ill; the money was not enough to keep them in school; or because of truancy.
According to project officer of PATH, Trevor Smith, each beneficiary is entitled to $400 per month, so a family of five would receive $2,000 per month.
But, according to the teacher from Petersfield, many of these students at her school were from depressed communities and their parents were unemployed.
Another teacher form Savanna-la-Mar Primary said that one of her students was suspended from the programme because she did not attend school regularly. This child was absent from school for 44 days between January and June.
In this particular case, she said the child's mother had several children and the father was not supporting the child.
