HAVING ignored the issue for years, the Ministry of Education has finally issued directives on the practice by some high schools to add auxiliary charges atop the approved student fees, urging that they be lowered.

In what is a first attempt at a policy response, the ministry has told principals that the size of the fees could derail government’s attempts to make school fees more affordable.

The ministry, however, has no plans to cut off the auxiliary fees as an avenue of financing, but says that schools should negotiate a middle ground with those parents who find them onerous.

It is reported that, in some cases, the auxiliary charges are higher than the approved fee, ranging from $2,000 in the newly upgraded secondary schools to $15,000 in the more preferred institutions like Campion College, according to checks made by education officers.

Compared, approved shool fees vary from $7,500 to $9,000.

Last Wednesday, education ministry officials brokered an agreement with heads of the two principals associations and the Jamaica Teachers Association, to ensure that:

. parents and school boards have an input in the decision on what fees are charged;

. principals make themselves available for consultation with parents on August 22 on the matter;

. they allow for a mutual arrangement to be set by parents who cannot afford the charges.

There was consensus at the end of the meeting that the auxiliary fees were necessary.

But, Branford Gayle, president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools, who attended the meeting, believes some schools are charging more than they need to.

“In every organisation there is always going to be some who go overboard,” Gayle told Sunday Observer.

“What we are saying to principals is that they must make sure this fund is carefully tabulated so that everyone knows what it is for and that it pays for what they said it would.”

His colleague Alphansus Davis, president of the Association of Principals and Vice Principals of High Schools, believes the issue has taken on too much significance, given, he said, that only a few schools engage in the practice.

“I’ve heard that there are some exorbitant fees. You have a few that have gone overboard, but for what I know it’s in agreement with the PTA, so I don’t see what the big issue is about,” said Davis.

“Some parents are resistant to paying fees.”

Auxiliary fees are charged by each school for special services such as insurance or identification passes, or they may be in the form of contributions to school upgrading or PTA.

They are separate from the endorsed government fees charged for tuition and book rentals.

The approved fees have been frozen since 2003, and this year government has approved subsidies of 50 per cent to 66 per cent per student, dramatically slicing tuition costs to parents for the new school year, which starts September 5.

Parents will now pay a third to a half of last year’s approved fees, depending on the subsidy approved per school, as advised in a circular issued May 2 by education official Jasper Lawrence.

The auxiliary fees, however, have kept the final cost high, leading the ministry to intervene to set guidelines on the charges.

Ministry officials in recent weeks have been making visits to high school across the island in a survey of the charges, and collecting information on the rationale for their application.

greenev@jamaicaobserver.com