RECENT investigations by the Ministry of Education have found that school administrators are requesting significantly large sums of money for the registration of new students to nursery, primary and secondary schools.The Ministry of Education Saturday said administrators have been overcharging for registration under the pretext that such sums were previously agreed upon by the Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs).

“No students (sic) shall be denied registration to any school due to their inability to pay; children have a right to schooling and must be registered,” the Ministry of Education stated.

Added to that, the PTA of each school has been authorised to conduct fundraising activities to support school administration to offset non-budgetary costs, such as badges, PTA dues, report booklets and miscellaneous items.

“Such activities must be promoted to strengthen the partnership between schools and the community,” the Ministry advised.

“If the activities planned and executed by the PTA do not generate the income to offset non-budgetary costs, then the following guidelines should be followed:
a) For All Nursery Schools – not more than $2,500.00 a year
b) For All Primary Schools – not more than $3,000.00 a year
c) For Secondary Schools – not more than $5,000.00/year
d) For National Secondary Schools (Queen’s College, The Bishops’ High, St. Stanislaus College, St. Rose’s and St. Joseph) – not more than $8,000.00/year

The Ministry stated that there must be no compulsion for students to purchase P.E. clothes, aprons for Home Economics, Lab Coats, and Tie-pin among others, from the school.

Also, the Ministry said that parents of nursery children should not be issued with any list of supplies to be purchased.