By Petrina Francis, Education ReporterSENATOR ANTHONY Johnson, Opposition spokesman on education, said yesterday that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was "disappointed" with the government's intention to retain cost sharing.
In the period leading to the 2002 General Election, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced that cost sharing would be gradually phased out by 2005.
But, the task force report on education which was released in December recommended that the government retains cost sharing. The report suggested that government should re-examine its intention because some parents are in a position to fund a significant portion of their children's education. This, they say is evident in the amount which parents spend on extra lessons.
ACTED IN BAD FAITH
A release from Senator Johnson stated that the JLP congratulated the prime
minister in 2002 when the plans to remove cost sharing were announced. "(However), it is now clear that the government has acted in bad faith and used the promise as an election ploy while sacrificing the best interest of Jamaican children," the Opposition said.
"The party refuses to accept the finance minister's claim that the alternative to abolition of cost sharing is the $65 billion programme of the task force on education," Senator Johnson said. "It is accepted that abolition of cost sharing will cost less that $1 billion annually and was to have been implemented in the upcoming government budget".
Senator Johnson said that if the government acts on the recommendations of the task force, hundreds of children would be at risk because "the school fees have to meet a specific deadline".
But, Dorrett Campbell, director of communications at the Education Ministry, told The Gleaner yesterday that a final decision has not been taken on cost sharing. "It is not something that we can take a quick decision on, all the possibilities have to be explored," she explained.
Ms. Campbell noted that the ministry is examining possible scenarios and the issue would be examined within the context made by the task force on education and within the government's initial thrust to universal secondary education.
Meanwhile, Ruel Reid, president-elect of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, said, "The JTA's position on cost sharing is that the government has the ultimate responsibility to ensure that the education system is properly financed. If the government wishes to retain the cost sharing then it is incumbent on them to have dialogue with the stakeholders."
