Education Ministry urged to increase yearly allocation to high schools

 

There is another push for an increase in the Ministry of Education's yearly allocation to secondary schools as more of the institutions face budgetary cutbacks which administrators say is threatening the psychosocial support offered to students.

 

Linvern Wright, President of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), says for the last six years, schools have been allocated between $17,000 and $19,000 per student since the imposition of the no-tuition fee policy.

 

Mr. Wright says with reduced funding, the pressure on schools' budgets to balance various needs has resulted in a decrease in the extracurricular activities offered.

 

Last week, Principal of Kingston College, Dave Myrie, disclosed that the administration may have to cut back on some of its extracurricular activities come September, as the institution has been struggling to meet the multimillion-dollar budget required to fund them annually.

 

Mr. Myrie cited the need to assist underprivileged students with meals and other basic necessities as well as the significant drop in parent contributions from 99 per cent to 25 per cent as additional burdens.

 

Speaking Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Mr. Wright said the problems at Kingston College are replicated in schools across the island.

 

"We have about 180 high schools in Jamaica. I hardly think that there is one that doesn't have this kind of challenge, certainly to different degrees," he noted. 

 

He said several meetings have been held with the Ministry of Education where the issue has been brought up, and he has again written to Minister Fayval Williams requesting further talks on the matter. 

 

Mr. Wright said there has to be a change in how schools are funded and the allocation from the ministry should include costs for extra-curricular activities. 

 

"There is no Jamaican who cannot attest to the pride sports and Altogether Sing and Schools' Challenge [Quiz] has brought us as a country. One of the things I think we've got to look at is to be formal in our funding. So look at supporting schools, for example, with two coaches. So if you want to do more than that, then you might have to raise funds for that. But have schools choose maybe two coaches that as the government you could say, okay, we pay for those as we pay a teacher," he suggested. 

 

Principal of Old Harbour High School, Linton Weir, pointed out that he has had to cut some extracurricular activities, while there has been reduced participation in others.

 

Mr. Weir praised teachers and principals, calling them "magicians in terms of what it is that we have been doing with the little resources that we have been receiving". But he also complained about the late and inadequate funds being provided to schools. 

 

"Let us say, for example, I went on vacation leave September to December and when I came back in January, we didn't have much resources. And we were just there hanging on for dear life, for us to receive our final tranches. It came late and while it is that it came late, it was just a drop in the bucket because the thing about it is that...luckily, we have good suppliers who would have been able to credit us the different items than we were able to pay," he lamented. 

 

Mr. Weir contended that government funding of schools should be based on policies that focus on the needs of individual institutions and the number of students enrolled. 

 

He was also speaking on the Morning Agenda.