No bailout for private schools

OPPOSITION SPOKESPERSON on Education Peter Bunting is warning that a failure by the Government to bail out cash-strapped preparatory and private high schools could result in their closure, creating a chaos in September with thousands of students needing to be absorbed in public institutions.

Yesterday, Karl Samuda, minister with responsibility for education, bluntly said that the Government did not have the resources to rescue private schools hit hard by economic hardships occasioned by the impact of COVID-19.

“If we were in a position financially to help private schools, I am sure the minister of finance would reach out to them, but we are not, and it is what it is – a private school funded by private capital; it’s a business,” Samuda argued.

Samuda said that the ministry provided curriculum and training support to private schools “but we are not in a position to pay for those facilities at this time”.

Bunting indicated that thousands of students who are now enrolled in prep or private high schools may have their education disrupted if the institutions they attend are forced to close as a result of financial challenges.

The opposition spokesman on education estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 students would be left in limbo if private schools collapsed.

“The service that they are providing will have to be taken over by the Government if they fall out of the system,” Bunting stressed.

He said that the public school system would be hard-pressed to absorb more than 30,000 students without creating disruption.

Bunting wants the Government to provide some support to these struggling schools or be prepared to deal with an exodus in September.

He also questioned whether the ministry was planning for the likelihood of fewer high-school graduates enrolling in colleges and universities because of fallout from the pandemic.

“History has taught us from other countries and from previous disasters that have caused lockdown that the economic impact on parents affect negatively the opportunities of the poorest students, for whom education is that chance to transition and move up inna life.”

He also raised questions about the implications of a likely low enrolment of students in colleges and universities on the viability of those tertiary institutions in September.