THE EDITOR, Sir:

Permit me to voice my concern over what I believe is now an epidemic, where preparatory schools are charging as much as $40,000 per term for tuition, with a pending increase to come in September 2007.

For that amount of money, I would expect that the kids there are getting a 'premium' in education over that of primary schools, but based on my discussions with a few parents, this does not seem to be the case, and I found it ironic that a number of preparatory school students were attending the primary schools' Saturday and extra classes in preparation for GSAT.

My daughter's preparatory school offers Spanish classes, she's now in grade three, and no more conversant than when she was in grade one. The school has a computer lab, yet she has never come home with an assignment to be done on the computer. At the end of her year when I check the textbooks, they are usually only half completed.

What's the reason for the increase in tuition, I ask? Due to economic reasons is the response and I wonder if I'm not living and earning in the same economy, yet willing to sacrifice for the education of my child. That's the bottom line, providing a good education for our children, whether they attend primary or preparatory.While many primary schools can boast of their achievements given their limited resources, I'm not sure that the preparatory schools have achieved half as much with the resources they have. I am begging parents to start holding these schools accountable, our children deserve value for money. "A mind is a terrible thing to waste!"

I am, etc.,

DONNA STEWART

dpstewart@cwjamaica.com

Havendale, Kingston 19

Via Go-Jamaica