I disagree with the Gleaner editorial believing "that school principals are making far too much of Prime Minister Golding's remark about 'extortion', relating to so-called 'auxiliary fees' charged by schools". Mr Golding's recent statement in the House that the administration was not "going to allow schools to find some other ways of extorting" fees is beyond the pale for a head of government.

It is indeed poor choice of words and the prime minister knows better, but is willing to subject himself to pandering to the masses in order to take a cheap shot and score a point against school leadership. This behaviour sends the wrong message. It is this type of overt confrontation that leads to the violence we hear of daily and is flushing Jamaica down the toilet. This type of talk tells me the prime minister sees the principals like the common criminals and the gunmen terrorising the nation.

If the Government was managing the education system as it needs to, this discussion would be mute. Furthermore, the ministry appears to have conceded that they do not know the true cost of education for each level in the school system, so what is the prime minister's basis for calling principals extortionists? Each school does not have similar budgets, so one should expect variation in the fees charged. Does each school have a bursar? Does each school get audited annually? So if excess fees are collected is there no accountability?

Finally, I await patiently to hear the prime minister unleash similar 'venom' on the gunmen and criminals terrorising the nation.