Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

More than 100 teachers from three parishes were deregistered from tertiary institutions because the Government failed to deliver the $500 million revolving loan on time for them to pay their tuition fees.

Last year, then Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson announced at the People's National Party (PNP) annual conference that the Government would be implementing a $500 million revolving loan fund to upgrade the island's roughly 17,000 teachers who are without a first degree. This was in keeping with a recommendation made by the Task Force report on education.

"The teachers are not only disappointed, they are angry because the Government is not living up to its promise," said Juno Gayle, Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) officer for the South Central region.

He noted that a majority of the teachers affected are from St. Elizabeth, Manchester and Clarendon and were attending offshore institutions.

Amazing announcement

Addressing the PNP's 68th annual conference on Sunday, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller said: "We now have a special $500 million loan scheme for teacher education."

Yesterday, Mr. Gayle said: "It is amazing that former Prime Minister P.J Patterson announced (the revolving loan fund) last year and I heard Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announcing at conference on Sunday and not one teacher has benefited from the programme."

The University of the West Indies (UWI) on Sunday published a reminder that tuition fees are due on Friday. Failure to pay fees will result in de-registration of students for this semester.

Mr. Gayle said several teachers attending the UWI were also expecting money from the revolving loan fund and would be affected.

He noted that while a number of them were "scraping" to see if they could get loans through financial institutions, others would have to sit out the semester because some do not qualify for a loan based on their current salary.

Senator Noel Monteith, State Minister in the Ministry of Education and Youth, said his Government did not promise that the money would have been ready for September. He said the Government was in the process of implementing the loan and a bank has been identified to disburse the funds. This should be ready by October.