KINGSTON, Jamaica — The People’s National Party (PNP) Women’s Movement said today that it is calling on the Government to provide relief for parents as the back-to-school fees for the upcoming academic year become a reality.

President of the Women’s Movement, Jennifer Edwards, said she made the call against the background that parents paid school fees in September last academic year on the basis that their children would have benefited from a full year of education in school.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, children were at home for almost five months when the fees were already paid, which cheated parents of the full value of the fees paid.

Edwards didn’t specify the category of students for which her appeal was intended, but her explanation suggests high school.

The PNP Women’s Movement president said further that parents had to find smartphones or tablets or other electronic devices, as well as money to provide data to access any educational material and training from the school, which increased the burden on many parents.

“The new school year will present its challenges, where children are likely to have reduced direct contact hours with teachers, will not be using the school facilities such as libraries, classrooms, electricity and water, yet parents are again being called upon to pay school fees and make other necessary purchases,” Edwards said.

She said that the Government has announced that it received billions of dollars in aid to help in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, and argued that the Jamaican people need to be the direct beneficiaries of the generosity offered by external philanthropic organisations or governments.

Edwards said due consideration should be given to assist parents who will need additional resources for data to facilitate e-learning, to pay for higher electricity and water bills and to provide additional food for children at home.

“Some parents will have to engage the services of persons to oversee and care for their children while they are at work,” Edwards said.

Noting that a large number of parents are single women, Edwards called on the Government to give special consideration to this group as part of their economic stabilisation and to protect the country from social destruction.