Principals of secondary schools are being told by the Education Ministry that they should not request registration fees or any other type of payments for new student intake.
The results of the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) were released last week.
Stewart the president of the National Parent Teachers Association, Walter Stewart, explains that while the fees are not mandatory, they are necessary for the upkeep of schools, which he says are under-funded by the Government.
Stewart maintains that the fees should be reasonable, and he strongly advocates that there should be no discrimination against those students whose parents are unable to make the financial contribution.
“It is not mandatory,” he says, “but the NPTA is encouraging some level of assistance from us as parents. “We must make and investment in the education system.”
The NPTA president noted: “Our children are the ones who, ultimately, are going to benefit from those kinds of financial assistance that we ask the government to provide for our charges.”
And while this country is opening its doors—and possibly schools—to children from hurricane-ravaged regions in Grenada, and St Vincent & The Grenadines, Walter Stewart says this is a welcome move.
“We are going to be introducing migrant children from the Republic of Venezuela into our school system come September,” he points out.
“We would certainly embrace the involvement and enrolment of the children [from] the areas that have been hit so badly by [Hurricane] Beryl into the school system, if at all it becomes necessary,” Stewart says.”
The NPTA president was a guest on today’s edition of CNC3’s The Morning Brew show.