TTUTA: Primary schools starved for $$

Primary schools are starved for funding, and most have never received their allocations for the 2017/2018 academic year which is coming to a close, TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Lynsley Doodhai has claimed.

The school year began on September 4, 2017 and will end on July 6. Doodhai told Sunday Newsday the Ministry of Education is yet to release money to many schools.

“Direct funding introduced in 2012 is a monetary allocation based on the enrolment of the school that is given directly to primary schools,” Doodhai explained. He said the funds are used to purchase stationery, items needed for the implementation of the curriculum and cleaning materials. “As a result of the non-provision of direct funding, schools are functioning without the facility of basic supplies that are needed for the daily running of schools. There is presently a dearth of toilet paper, cleaning materials, garbage bags, stationery and whiteboard markers in our primary schools.” He said at some schools, parents are being unfairly burdened as they have to contribute either supplies or cash, while principals go cap-in-hand soliciting donations from the business and corporate sectors.

He said principals’ core functions are being compromised as they are too busy raising funds to keep the schools afloat.

He said the schools have been forced to host fund-raising activities which results in valuable teaching time being lost as teachers are normally involved in these exercises. He said the ministry’s much-touted thrust, the provision of quality education, cannot be a reality if primary schools do not have the basic necessities to function. “TTUTA is calling on the Ministry of Education to immediately provide relief to our suffering primary schools,” Doodhai said. Support for TTUTA’s position has come from the Presbyterian Primary School Board. The board said they have not received funding since March 2017. The Association of Denominational Boards said it has also raised this issue several times, “yet our schools are suffering for these basic necessities. Valuable teaching time is lost in fund-raising to purchase needed items”

The Presbyterian board also called on the ministry to state whether it plans to complete the Siparia Union, Curepe and Woodbrook Presbyterian schools for which construction stopped since September 2015, as well as rebuild the Longdenville, Princes Town No 1, Sangre Chiquito and Harmony Hall Presbyterian schools.

“The deplorable conditions at these schools are negatively impacting on the delivery of quality education without any reaction without any reaction,” the Presbyterian board said.