MONTEGO BAY, St James — Education Minister Senator Ruel Reid has again argued that his Government’s planned removal of auxiliary fees will not have a negative effect on high schools as was being claimed by the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS) and the Opposition People’s National Party.

“Well, the issue of education has always been a big political issue and I think that we have tried our best to meet with the stakeholders to explain our own position,” Senator Reid told reporters last Friday following an installation ceremony of the University of the West Indies, Western Jamaica Campus Ambassadorial Corps at Sandals Montego Bay Resort in St James.

Some 12 members of the business community were installed.

Recently, the newly installed minister announced that auxiliary fees will be abolished and that high schools, instead, will be given a maximum of $19,000 per student annually.

Last weekend, following JAPPS’s four-day retreat at Iberostar Resort in Rose Hall, the association described the policy as “a threat to quality education”.

“We are concerned that many schools will not be able to fund their established programmes and operations for the entire year, including welfare, security, laboratories, technology, staffing, assessment, co-curricular activities and maintenance,” Linvern Wright, JAPSS’s public relations officer, told reporters at a media briefing.

But Senator Reid maintained on Friday that his ministry’s proposal is workable.

“If we say parents can make contributions and the ministry is putting on the table additional funding for schools, we can’t understand how anybody will think that they are going to get less funds. Because the ultimate strategy is for schools to get more resources, because the Government is giving schools more resources, which is the plan, as well as they can also get contributions from parents. So it is a win-win for everybody,” he explained.

The principals last week had argued that though the proposal may benefit some schools in the short term, others will not be able fund their established programmes and operations within a given year.

However, Senator Reid insisted that removing auxiliary fees will create more equity between traditional and upgraded schools.

“All schools currently do not have the same level of funding. And what we are actually trying to do is a rebalancing of schools that have a high percentage of pass students, so they will get more resources from the Government. I cannot see how anybody could have a problem with that, because right now there is a lot of inequity in the school system. The traditional high schools get more contribution from parents compared to the upgraded high schools. So, if you have a straight-line approach, it means that you are sustaining and maintaining that inequity,” Senator Reid argued.

He reiterated that parents who are in a position to make contributions should continue to do so, adding that school administrations, as well as their parent teachers’ associations (PTA), should look at whatever funding gaps exist and network with their alumni associations and corporate Jamaica to help fund additional programmes.

But, last week, Wright, who is also the principal of Rusea’s High School in Hanover, added that such a pronouncement by the minister may lead to parents withdrawing their support, which his association believes could pose a threat to the provision of quality education.

However, Senator Reid told reporters on Friday that “there is no need to have that fear. I speak against the experience of being principal of Jamaica College. What we said is that you are to have that discussion with your board in terms of what your funding requirements are. You have to have discussions with the PTA to say what your requirements are and then you approach the parents. And once you do it that way, which is the policy that should be followed, you have no problem”.

He added: “As minister, I am making it very clear to parents that to the extent that schools require your contribution, I am again recommending that you give your fullest support to all schools that require your financial contributions.”

He further reiterated that he will continue to have discussions with school principals as well as parent teachers’ associations on the matter, adding that several conferences are planned before the start of the next school year in which the matter will be further discussed.