PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Independent Schools Association, Dr Faithlyn Wilson, is making an impassioned plea for the assistance given to students to shoulder the impact of novel coronavirus pandemic to be extended to students in private schools.

“Private schools did not have a cushion and in the same way the Government has found ways to help other sectors of the society, we feel that some kind of financial support could have been given to students who are registered in private schools. For example, the Government could use a voucher system where once a child is registered in a private school they get a voucher that is equivalent to some value and it could be even 50 per cent or 25 per cent of the cost to have a child in the public school system. That way every Jamaican child would be supported as we all try to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr Wilson said.

Further, Dr Wilson sought to dispel the notion that all students in private institutions are well off, financially.

“That is fiction. There are many parents who send their children to private schools at great sacrifice. I know of private school parents who are vendors in the market, they are taxi operators, they are nurses, they are teachers. They are not rich. They are prepared to make the sacrifice to ensure that their students get a holistic education that is provided by our private schools. That is why many of our parents enrol their children in private schools,” Dr Wilson said.

Further, Dr Wilson said private institutions were aware of that and charge fees well below market value in order to be inclusive to all.

“Because many of our schools are aware of this, they tend to charge fees that are well below the market value of what is provided and then they augment the school’s budget with fund-raisers and other income streams such as a tuck shop. So, private schools, typically, do not make a profit because we know that many of our parents are sending their children to school at great sacrifices,” she said.

Dr Wilson added: “I am not sure where that came from, that if you send your child to a private school you are rich. But if you check out how many nurses, how many teachers, how may taxi operators, how many vendors are sending their children to private schools, you will find out that’s not really the case.”

Meanwhile, Dr Wilson also pointed out that the promise made by Government to pay a one-off grant to staff in the private school system has yet to be fulfilled for many employees.

“That’s a promise that was made approximately one year ago and to date, quite a number of schools have not had employees who have benefited. More than 50 per cent of our teachers have not been paid. The grant would help tremendously,” she said.