Pricey places - Gov't spends big to put poor-performing students in private high schools
Published:Sunday | October 31, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
Since 2003, the Government of Jamaica has been paying a tidy sum each year to place poor-performing Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT) students in private high schools.
In fact, the Government shelled out close to half a billion dollars last year to these private institutions, which take in some of the poorest-performing students in the GNAT.
Responding to questions from The Sunday Gleaner, the Ministry of Education revealed that for the 2009-2010 academic year, it spent $489,456,000 to move some of the poorest-performing students at the grade-nine level out of the public- school system into private high schools.
"Currently, there are 6,336 students. This number includes 120 students who were placed in special-education institutions. The Government pays the cost for tuition, which is currently $77,250 per child per year," read a section of the response provided by the ministry.
An agreed-on sum
According to the education ministry, the money paid per child is an agreed-on sum for tuition across the board.
This flat rate is developed in consultation with the schools.
The education ministry said it started placing students in private institutions in 2003 under the ROSE 2 programme. However, the placement of students with special needs in private special-education institutions started in 2007.
With at least one senior educator raising concerns about the wisdom of placing the students, some of them barely literate, in these registered private institutions, the ministry sought to defend its position.
"The decision was made due to inadequate places available in the public high schools.
"The system of placement is done in the same manner as GSAT (Grade Six Achievement Test), where students are placed based on choices, performance, followed by proximity, and lastly, about one per cent placed manually," the ministry said.
The ministry admitted that the private high schools are not on the selection list where choice of government schools would be indicated by parents during the registration for the GNAT.
"Students are first placed based on their top-five choices. After places are filled, students who were not placed are then manually placed in the private schools. Proximity is a prime consideration when the regions do the manual placements," the ministry reiterated.
Quality Academics, City College, Maths Unlimited, Pentab High, Deokoro Magnet School for the Gifted, Portland High, May Pen Academy, and Belair School are all on a list of 26 private schools where the students are placed.
Value for money
The education ministry said it ensures value for money by having the private schools monitored on a regular basis by its education officers.
The recurrent checks are designed to ensure that the school's programmes are in keeping with the ministry's expectations, as well as to certify that high-quality education is being delivered.
The ministry also stated that officers in its Independent Schools' Unit also visit the privately owned institutions to ascertain the quality of places, academic qualification of staff, and the skill areas offered.
Earlier this month, The Sunday Gleaner reported that after sitting the GNAT, scores of Jamaica's barely literate students were taken out of the public-school system by the education ministry and placed in private high schools.
This sparked concerns over whether the private institutions were equipped to deal with the possible learning problems of some of these children.
Dubious mechanism
A senior educator ripped into the ministry's practice, describing it as a dubious placement mechanism, void of interest in the welfare of the students.
The educator argued that the practice of buying places in these private institutions was a grand waste of scarce funds that would be better spent helping the same students.
Some critics thought the State's policy was tantamount to academic dumping, or scholastic cleansing.
But, the education ministry said it was satisfied that the private schools can cope with the students.
"The schools are equipped and we are satisfied with the individualised programmes used to assist these students," the ministry argued.