Principal told: Remove laptop from booklist

THE Ministry of Education has instructed the San Juan North Secondary School principal to rescind a Form Two 2020/2021 booklist which had asked parents of these students to buy a laptop for school next term.

Angry parents uploaded the booklist to social media, including Facebook, which elicited hundreds of comments, most of which were very negative towards the school and the Education Ministry. A lot of comments were from parents who said they could not afford such an expensive device because they did not budget for it.

The laptop was a requirement under the “general supplies” section on the booklist. The school even went on to detail the preferred brands and specifications .

Parents were asked to buy a 14-inch-screen Dell/HP/Asus or Lenovo laptop with a 1.6 GHz processor and two USB and HDMI ports. The device must come with a 500 GB hard drive, Windows 10, wifi and Bluetooth. Checks by Newsday with several electronic stores showed that a laptop with such specifications costs from $3,700 to upwards of $5,000.

When contacted, an official in the ministry confirmed the list was authentic but added that the laptop is not a part of the regulations so it is not a requirement on a booklist.

The ministry official said the school’s principal was contacted and instructed to withdraw the list.

When Newsday called the school, an official said  no one could comment on the booklist or its contents.