Private School Association: we will sit and wait

All we can do at this stage is sit and wait on the Education Minister Anthony Garcia. This was the remark made by vice president of the Private School’s Association Anthony Mc Collin.

The association has been lobbying for an increased payment from the Ministry of Education of $5,700 instead of $1,200 per term for students.

At a press conference yesterday Education Minister Anthony Garcia said the issue to increase private school fees have been referred to Cabinet.

“That situation is before the Cabinet Finance and General Purposes Committee (FNGP). Any matter that deals with finance it is usually referred to the FNGP committee. We will meet on Monday and we will go through the recommendations before we come to a decision.”

“We are hoping it will be done before the end of next week. After the discussion among the FNGP, between Monday and Thursday we are hoping to meet once again with the principals of the private secondary schools,” Garcia said.

Speaking to Newsday, Mc Collin said it is his hope the minister can pull the situation together to let the nation know what is taken place with their children.

“We wait on the minister to tell us about the children and their future. We don’t know what is being discussed at the meeting, we don’t know what figures are being proposed, all we can do is wait. This is what we are being forced to do because something which could have started since 2015, if the minister wanted it to get it done. The matter only started last week.

“If they were a proactive Ministry of Education and not reactive, this situation would have been solved a long time ago. However, what I can say is that the schools have not been paid their subvention for this term. We are still waiting on our money and we are waiting on the minister, let them take their time.”