Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
HOLNESS
THE OPPOSITION will be moving to amend the Education Act or the accompanying regulations to make it an offence to bar or victimise students who are unable to pay their tuition fees.
During his presentation to the Budget Debate in Gordon House on Wednesday, Opposition Spokesman on Education, Andrew Holness, notified the Government of his intention to deal with this issue.
AMBIVALENCE
"The official policy of the Ministry of Education is that no child should be barred from school or be victimised or barred for inability to pay school fees," he said.
Mr. Holness told the House that this was a real problem in the education system as several parents have been calling him to complain about the issue. He said the Ministry of Education seemed reluctant to enforce the policy.
"There is an ambivalence, almost reluctance, on the part of the Ministry when it comes to enforcing this policy. Some principals and teachers break the policy routinely without con-sequence," he said.
Turning to another matter, Mr. Holness said that something was wrong with the country's family structure and as a result this was reflecting on the society.
He urged the Government to get involved in promoting good family structure.
"Mr. Speaker, there are some persons here who may feel that the State should not get involved in family structures or promoting the family," he noted.
" I hasten to remind such persons that the family is an important mechanism of social control, and when the family fails, the value system fails and it becomes difficult to achieve social cohesion and order."
He pointed out that the family was an economic agent and plays a major role in determining consumption patterns and priorities.
"It plays a significant role in capital accumulation, and it determines how wealth and property are secured inter-generational. When the family is failing, the economy is also failing," he emphasised.
Mr. Holness proposed that the Prime Minister should establish a special committee, involving the church, academia, non-governmental organisations and family advocate groups, Members of Parliament and relevant government ministries to consider the best family structure for Jamaica.
This group he said, would be able to consider ways to influence the society towards the ideal.
