The administration of Dinthill Technical High School in St Catherine is defending its requirement that new students and parents sign a document stating if the child fails to perform, the parents would remove the student from the school.
Vice Principal Monica White told RJR News on Monday that the policy has been in place for many years.
However, the school says students are seldom removed, and this only takes place after several rounds of intervention, including repeatedly poor performing students.
On Monday, a parent of a new student raised concerns about two aspects of the school's requirements for incoming students – one of them being blood tests
The school responded, saying blood tests are only required for students that the doctor or school nurse indicate may need further assessment other than the school required medical examination.
White insisted that it is not a compulsory requirement for entering the institution, and over the years the school have been able to detect issues such as anemia through the blood tests:.
She said the results of the test are not handed over to the school, but the school receives a list of students whose parents need to re-visit the doctor,
The Vice Principal was unable to state whether the requirements were in line with the policies of the Ministry of Education.
The parent who raised the concerns said she had children who had previously attended high school and this was the first school that required students to take a blood test.
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