Dr. Faithlyn Wilson, President of the Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA) - file photo
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Dr. Faithlyn Wilson
The Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA) is renewing its appeal for some kind of monetary assistance from the Government to help private schools keep their doors open for the new academic year.
Dr. Faithlyn Wilson, President of the Association, says it is clear that the schools are needed, with the ministry approaching some to accept first year high school students for the upcoming academic year.
The government has offered private high schools and a few preparatory schools $80,000 for each student per annum.
However, Dr. Wilson says some of the administrators have rejected the offer, as the funds would not be sufficient to cover costs such as hiring more teachers and retrofitting schools.
"This is against the background that the schools would be getting the students who are on what the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information calls Pathway 2 and Pathway 3 students. So these are the students who would need extra support and maybe behavioural and psychological learning assessments and special education support and so, to manage with $80,000 per annum would be impossible, given the cost structure of private schools," she insisted.
Speaking Thursday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica programme, Dr. Wilson proposed a voucher system to assist the struggling private schools.
"This voucher could be just similar to the amount that the government would spend if that child were enrolled in the public school system. That could not be unreasonable because the private school is serving a very strong purpose, we have a proven track record of good performance and the government needs the private school spaces right now," she argued.
She added that private schools cannot reduce the cost of tuition at this time as it would not be feasible.
"Many of us already made a discount on the fees for this current term that will end next Friday and as a result of that, we had to ask our staff to take a significant cut in compensation. So, having made that kind of sacrifice, to continue to ask our staff to do that going forward, I think would be unreasonable, especially given that staff in the government system are not having this kind of experience," she contended.
The Ministry of Education has been seeking alternative classroom spaces due to the need for physical distancing.
Earlier this month, Acting Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry, Dr. Grace McLean, said it had started receiving expressions of interest from private schools willing to accept students from the public system.
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