Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
SEVERAL SCHOOLS across the island may be forced to close their doors early, if the Ministry of Education acts on its plans to retrieve money it overpaid to the institutions under the cost-sharing exercise over a three-year period.
Alphansus Davis, president of the Association of Principals and Vice-Principals of High Schools, told The Gleaner that if all the money that was overpaid were deducted, schools would be left without funds and would be forced to close for the rest of the year.
Mr. Davis pointed out that while some schools were aware of the overpayment, it is not the fault of the schools.
He explained that some parents applied to the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), as well as the cost-sharing programme, at times without the knowledge of the schools.
The ministry, he said, went ahead and paid the fees in full for students who applied to the PATH and also paid 50 per cent for cost-sharing for the same students.
DRASTIC ACTION
The Gleaner was unable to obtain information on the total amount that was overpaid to all the schools.
However, Hopeton Henry, principal of Seaforth High School, said his school was overpaid $2.5 million. The school is expected to get $2.6 million from the ministry at the end of April. If the money is deducted, the school will only have $100,000 to operate on for the rest of the school year.
Mr. Henry said more than $3 million is outstanding in school fees.
He said he will have to take drastic action and he will be sending home each student as of today with a letter reminding parents and guardians of the school fees.
Failure to collect the outstanding fees from parents, he said, would result in the closure of the school.
DISCREPANCIES IN DATA
When contacted, Dorrett Campbell, director of communications in the Ministry of Education, confirmed that some schools were overpaid.
She explained that schools were overpaid because there were discrepancies in the data provided by the schools to the ministry.
Ruel Reid, president-elect of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, said his organisation was not aware of the situation.
However, he indicated that it is not a crisis situation as "This is an issue that I am sure we could have dialogue with the ministry about and see how best it can be resolved."
This is not the first time that the ministry has made overpayments and then attempted to take back the money.
Ten years ago, the ministry made an overpayment of $20 million to 80 specialist teachers. However, the Ministry of Finance wrote off the amount last year.
