Scores of academy students
locked out over school fees
~ Parents protest, threaten to take matter to court ~
CUL DE SAC--A large number of students of both sections of St. Maarten Academy were denied entry to school on Monday for being in arrears in their annual school fees.
The exact number of students turned away could not be ascertained, but one parent said an estimated 100 students “were idle on the road.”
Monday’s incident stems from a new policy that went into effect yesterday, requiring all students to present an Academy identification card to be allowed into the school.
Only students whose fees are paid in full are given identification cards. Students without the cards were not allowed to enter the school compound.
Academy Director Vance James said the students who had been sent home included those who hadn’t paid any fees for the academic year and students who had paid only a portion of the fee. The annual school fee is NAf. 770, but parents who paid before the beginning of the new school year were given a NAf. 70 discount.
Disgruntled parent Alberto Bute believes the school’s policy is in contravention of a child’s basic right to education. Bute said at least 100 students had been “idle” on the road Monday because they hadn’t been admitted to school. Bute was among several parents who visited the school to protest the policy.
Bute said Academy’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA) had been asked to address the matter by Wednesday. He said the policy was both “illegal” and “discriminatory,” he had already dispatched a letter to the Ministry of Education reporting on this latest development, and he was prepared to take the matter to court if the school did not reverse its policy.
“I know there may be a lot of unscrupulous parents who don’t take their children’s education seriously, but we must look at the right of the child to education,” said Bute.
“The agreement to pay school fees is between the school and the parent. The school should not try to squeeze the children in between in this issue. The school should pursue parents, but not harm the children.
“The school wants to make it appear as if an ID is the issue, but this policy is based on privilege, because if you pay in full, you get an ID card (from the school), but there are many students whose fees are not paid in full,” said Bute whose two children were among those denied entry on Monday.
Another parent who spoke on the condition of anonymity said all government-subsidised schools on the island already had in place a policy whereby students whose fees were not paid in full weren’t issued their final reports at the end of each academic year. The parent questioned why Academy, which also had a similar policy in place up to two years ago, had opted for this new approach.
In an invited comment late Monday, James said the school had been lax on the collection of school fees over the years and many students hadn’t paid their fees in full for an extended period. He said that while the school was subsidised by the Island Government, the amount was insufficient to fuel the school’s operations. Academy runs on an eight-million-guilder budget per annum.
He also said parents had been duly informed about this new policy.
Many parents visited the school on Monday to pay school fees for their children after the policy had been put into effect. Others made arrangements to pay or explained their situation to the school.
“If the parents have a specific problem they have to say so,” James said. He said the school used the fees to acquire the “necessary supplies” for students.
“Parents must be aware of their responsibility towards their children. They have the responsibility and must take care of their responsibility,” James stressed.
He accused one particular parent, who he said had not “fulfilled his own obligations as a parent,” of “trying to mislead other parents.”
“Parents and students should guard against other people trying to control them. It is not a question of not wanting a child in school. You cannot go to a university and not comply with the admission requirements. You won’t be admitted. Some people feel that government has to take care of everything.”
James couldn’t say exactly how many students had not been admitted to either section of the school, but said most of those in arrears were at the Preparatory Vocational Educational Section (PSVE) in Ebenezer.
No official of the PSVE section could be reached for comment last night. (Judy H. Fitzpatrick)
