High electricity costs stifling rural schools
DR JOHN Lennon, a retired IT consultant and returning resident from the United Kingdom, is expressing frustration at what he calls the continued ‘educational apartheid’. He told The Gleaner how solar-powered schools would reduce the heavy expenses school administrations face and would make it easier on parents’ pockets in the process.
“I returned to Jamaica in 2013 to see the same educational apartheid I lived in rural Thompson Town, and not much has changed. Many of the people I knew that are still there have inherited poverty, and the common factor is that they all attended secondary and all-age schools – but they are poorly educated. Brilliance is distributed randomly, so the Einsteins born into poverty are lost in this system,” he said, pointing out that it is a human right for all children to receive a free and decent standard education.
Stating that education is grossly underfunded and, therefore, dependent on fees and charity, he referred to a Gleaner February 2019 article on the handover of the Jamaica College auditorium funded by a past student, where Prime Minister Andrew Holness admitted the shortfall in resources while calling on investment from past students.
Citing examples of other alums trying to raise funds such as Clarendon College’s “Class of 83 bus drive”, he said that poor-performing schools such as Thompson Town High do not have such benefactors, so the outlook is bleak - even more so given the fact that the parents are too poor to pay fees and/ or see fees as a poor investment. For Lennon, education could be funded significantly better if the Government were prudent and invested in solar power. Solar is being used to boost educational funding in the US, so it is obviously viable here, he notes.
ASTRONOMICAL JPS BILLS
“Astronomical JPS bills are the main reason why schools are broke and education is substandard. Schools consume most of their energy during daylight hours so are prime candidates for solar power. To determine if solar is a good investment, you need to look at payback periods,” he notes, pointing out that in Jamaica, it is under four years, which he says is remarkably low. He cited a 2014 Gleaner article in which Holy Trinity reported incredible payback figures of under a year. Their monthly bills were around $1 million, but after installing solar, they fell, to quote, “$500-$600 and odd (thousand) per month”.
He said Ardenne High School’s 2017 introduction of solar power saw their monthly electricity bills reduced by 30 per cent. He said that they are also partially solar-powered and also reported payback figures of under a year. He bemoaned the fact that the school administrators could not raise the additional $25 million that would see them being taken completely off the grid.
“If Ardenne got a 10-year 20 per cent interest loan, its monthly repayments would be $400,000 ($40 million + 20% of $40 million] ÷ 120 months), so in the first year, the monthly savings would be an astonishing $3.6 million ($4million - $400,000),” he said.
“Numbers do not lie. If schools were allowed to borrow, they would be immediately much better off. Simply apply prudence. Instead of indefinitely paying JPS, schools could service fixed-term loan agreements – repayments would be significantly lower than bills – to pay for their own electricity-generating facilities. Solar-powered streetlights and public infrastructure would redirect money from JPS to education,” he notes.
According to Lennon, a solution for schools is to look to the Jamaica Development Bank for funding. He observed that the bank has loaned the foreign investors of the BPO sector US$110 million, so the same courtesy could be afforded schools to invest in solar energy “It makes economic sense. The bank would actually make more money lending to schools because it could charge much higher interest rates! The schools would save, parents save, the bank (owned by the people) would make money, so everyone would win! It would also impact numerous Sustainable Development Goals. The Government must explain why they cannot do this, especially when they are building a new US$50 million parliament building” he said.