THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) last night urged the Government to abolish all high school tuition fees by September, a move that would effectively end the cost-sharing programme implemented by the administration in the 1990s.

JLP leader Bruce Golding said the prime minister should remove the fees in time for the next academic year, and if the Government failed to do so, the JLP would end the cost-sharing porogramme on August 28, if elected on August 27 to form the next government.

“I am appealing to the prime minister to reconsider the matter, it would be good for the country,” Golding told journalists attending a press briefing at the JLP’s head office on Belmont Road in Kingston.

“It would be tremendous relief for the parents who are now faced with the challenge of sending their children back to school, if they could be assured that they do not have to pay those fees when they become due and payable in the middle of August,” the JLP leader said.

“I am calling on the prime minister today, to reconsider the Government’s objection to this proposal, especially in the light of the juxtaposition of the election date with the reopening of schools and the confusion that is likely to cause,” he said.

“I restate the commitment of the JLP that on the 28th of August, provided we are the Government of Jamaica, there will be no fees to be paid for the 2007/2008 academic year, and any parent who might have paid the fee in compliance with the requirement of the school, those parents will be fully refunded,” he added.

Golding, at the same time, said the schools would not be deprived of any revenue because of this decision to end cost-sharing.

He said that where the fees have been paid by the parents, the money would be refunded to them through the school, and where the parents have not paid the fee, the funds will be paid directly to the school on behalf of those parents.

“This decision, to which we are irrevocably committed, will not involve any loss of revenue to the school,” said Golding. “What it will require is very careful administrative work to ensure that where the payments have already been made to the school, the refund goes back to the parents, and where the parents have not yet paid, the payment from the Government would be retained by the school.”

In the meantime, Golding said the date of the election could create some logistics problems for schools as it would be the week before they reopen, but he felt that those problems were manageable.

He said that while it was important for the school authorities to take into account the interruptions that could be caused by the use of premises as polling stations, if it was approached in a structured manner he was sure they would be able to deal with it.

The more serious problem, said Golding, was the payment of tuition fees by parents, as well as the cost of acquiring birth certificates required by the children for registration in

the schools.