JISA says no to Government’s offer for students

WESTERN BUREAU:

Despite the concerns about their immediate future as a result of the economic difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic, some private schools have nonetheless rejected an offer of J$80,000 for each student per year which was reportedly made by the Ministry of Education.

In an interview with The Gleaner last Thursday, Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA) President Dr Faithlyn Wilson, confirmed that the offer was made to help cover the educational needs of private-school students. However, she said some schools felt that the offer was not enough.

“The Government is offering us J$80,000 per annum per student, and there are some schools that charge that amount for one term,” said Wilson, in pointing to the inadequacy of the offer. “The schools have done their cost-benefit analysis, and some of them indicated to me that the offer would not be economically feasible.”

“If we are to bring back the students in September under physical-distancing conditions, we are going to have to double the staff complement in some cases. Whereas you could previously have one teacher teaching 24 students, now you will have one teacher teaching 12 or 15 students,” explained Wilson.

BUNTING’S COMMENTS

The stance taken by the private schools comes sharply on the heels of recent comments by Peter Bunting, the Opposition spokesman on education, that the Government should offer a minimum of J$100,000 per month as a subsidy to private-school teachers to help them cushion the fallout caused by the novel coronavirus.

Bunting had suggested that the Government should offer the nation’s 8,000 private-school teachers J$100,000 a month, which would amount to J$9.6 billion for the year. The Government has allocated J$117 billion in its 2020-21 budgetary allocation to pay the nation’s 25,000 public-school teachers.

The Government’s J$80,000 offer is a reversal of an earlier declaration by the Ministry of Education that the Government was not able to give any financial help to private schools.

Commenting on Bunting’s suggestion, Wilson said that such a strategy could help private schools to better abide by social-distancing guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“The Government could contribute to the teachers’ pay, or if not, they could contribute to covering our costs, because our greatest challenge going forward is paying our teachers,” said Wilson. “What Mr Bunting mentioned is one such intervention that would help. I agree with it, within the context that it is to help us to open in September under physical-distancing conditions, given that our parents may not be in a position to pay increased fees to cover the additional costs.”