Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter
DUNROBIN HIGH School, which closed its doors earlier this year because of financial problems, will reopen this September under new ownership and management.
The new institution, which will be renamed the Dunrobin Undergrad High School, was taken over by the Undergrad School which offers day and evening CXC and 'A' Levels classes at three centres in Kingston and Montego Bay.
Chairman of the Undergrad School, Sylvester O'Gilvie, told The Gleaner yesterday that the projected cost for upgrading the school for the new academic year will run into roughly $2.5 million. Most of this money will go toward painting the building, replacing furniture, replacing bathroom fixtures and equipping science laboratories, he said.
The cost per term for each student will be $15,000. Mr. O'Gilvie justified the fees noting that they were in line with the fees of other private high schools.
The school plant is capable of accommodating over 600 students, however, Mr. O'Gilvie said it would initially be looking to get between 300 and 350 students in addition to about 12 teachers.
"We are trying not to have more than 25 students to one teacher in a class room," said Mr. O'Gilvie. "We don't want to fall into the same situation as other schools."
In January, Dunrobin High School became one of the casualties of the financial woes which have hit some private high schools due to the reclassification of secondary schools and salary increases to public sector teachers. The school saw enrolment fall from more than 600 in the 1980s to 142 for the September 1999 term.
Even though it has operated three educational centres, Dunrobin will be the first full-fledged high school that the Undergrad School will operate. However, the Ministry of Education says the organisation has satisfied its requirements for running the school.
"They would have satisfied the basic requirement (for setting up the school," information officer Edwin Thomas told The Gleaner yesterday. He said the Independent Schools Unit of the Ministry would have been satisfied that the organisation has the necessary components to operate the school. Among these, he said, are adequate bathroom facilities, proper furniture and the offering of the Ministry's approved secondary curriculum.
He also noted that the unit will monitor the school as it does every other private high school to ensure that set standards are maintained in the institution.
The Undergrad School was started 22 years ago by Mr. O'Gilvie and a couple of his friends while they were on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies. The school said in 1999 it recorded above 70 per cent passes in the subjects taken at all three of its centres located at the University of the West Indies, Merle Grove High School and the Montego Bay Centre.
