–refuses to negotiate school fee hike, protest or no protest

MAE’S schools, which stood by parents and protested with them against the implementation of VAT some time ago, is now demanding that the very parents pay a whopping 42 per cent increase in tuition fees without any explanation.
The school’s administrators have refused to call a meeting, resulting in parents staging a protest outside the school’s Third Street, Subryanville premises on Monday.
“No to 42% increase”, “Highway robbery to the max”, “42% increase is unreasonable! We have bills too”, read some of the placards.
Paul Subryan, the father of a Grade Two pupil attending the school, told the Guyana Chronicle that a group of parents have tried very hard for the school to give the parents a voice, but to no avail.

‘UTTERLY RIDICULOUS!’

“But they didn’t; they shut us down! I find this increase to be terribly ridiculous!” the parent said.
“You can’t impose an increase and expect that we will find money to pay just like that. It’s not a whole bunch of rich people coming to this school; it’s a wide cross-section, and they know this. They sent a letter! Story done!”
Noting that in as much as running a school is a business Subryan said, it’s also an educational institution.

“If they look at it only as a business then, they are in the wrong industry; they should not be in education,” he said.
Natasha Persaud, a single-parent mom and make-up artist, never expected the school to raise its fees so high, and is hoping that the administrators will change their minds and do something about it.
“This is exploitation,” the young mother said. “Not every day you would get a client, or a face to do, so it’s hard on me. I didn’t expect this much of an increase, so it’s affecting me terribly.”
She pointed out that although each parent is asked for toilet paper and Lysol, the washrooms are in poor condition.
Another parent who overheard Persaud, chimed in saying that parents still have to participate in fund-raising activities, buy expensive uniforms, books, and a full list of school supplies. “So, what are we really paying for?” the woman pondered aloud.
Shenera Sam, another parent has two children attending the school. “It’s going to be very hard on me to find all this money.”
|The administration should’ve at least consulted with us to find out what we can afford. My children are here since the playgroup, so it’s not a case where you don’t have parents who are loyal to your school. At least give us that courtesy,” she said.

WELL PLANNED

Sam believes that the school operated in a rather strategic fashion, in that they carefully chose the time of year to break the news to parents.
“All of the other private schools already have hundreds of applications. So we are now at a disadvantage,” she said.

She also commented on the two-line letter that was sent to parents informing them of the increase. “The tone of the letter we received as parents was not caring and compassionate at all, and we’re hoping they can reconsider,” he said, adding:“ This school stood with us when we opposed the 14 per cent VAT. If you read the article that Ms. French wrote, she talked about parents from all different spectrums of life, and now to impose 42 percent?”
According to the notices issued to parents, the fees for children in the playgroup have jumped from $35,000 per term to $50,000 per term, representing a 42 per cent increase. At the nursery level, there has been a 33 per cent increase, with fees moving from $45,000 to $60,000, while at the primary level, from Grades One to Four, the increase stands at 25 per cent, moving from $60,000 to $75,000.

Parents of Grade Five pupils are required to pay $70,000, representing a combination of $60,000 for tuition and $10,000 for lessons fees. The fees for this level have not been increased. However, Grade Six pupils are now being charged $80,000, which is a combination of $60,000 tuition and $20,000 lessons fees. Initially, that level paid $60,000 tuition and a $10,000 lesson fee.
The school had said that its decision to increase fees was “necessary for a number of reasons, including the fact that our costs to do business have increased, in some cases quite substantially, over the last few years.
“Further, in an environment where hiring teachers who are both motivated and experienced has become a monumental task, we are at a point where we are placing an even greater focus on staff development/empowerment. Please note that as a part of this endeavour, we are also looking at overall operations and ways to make them more efficient.”

On the issue of VAT remittance, the school’s administrator, Stacey French said the school’s tax records are “not for public consumption.”