Church schools must be held accountable, too

THE EDITOR, Sir:

ALTHOUGH I am a public advocate of a renewed thrust in education by the Church, and particularly at the level of early childhood education, I just cannot agree with Deacon Peter Espeut ( Gleaner, ‘And there arose a pharaoh who knew not Joseph’, March 2, 2018) in the implication that the Church ought not be held to the same standards of transparency in the management of the taxpayers’ hard-earned money as other agents involved in handling the people’s money.

It appears every bit a double standard that while we, including Deacon Espeut, rightfully clamour for transparency in the country’s governance, the Church ought not to be held to the same standards.

TIME FOR A RETHINK

In relation to the matter of monetary gifts, etc. becoming part of the Consolidated Fund, it is time for a rethink of the structure of school alumni and other benefactors. The establishment of charitable trusts and foundations seems an obvious legal option for avoiding the clutches of an impoverished Government treasury eager to get their fingers on any and all available cash resources.

This requires, however, a radical reimagining of the governance and management, particularly of alumni associations, stuck in the traditional modus operandi of “self-gratification and periodic nostalgia-infused occasions for collegial back-slapping and elbow-bending”.

The reality is that the State, after 55 years of Independence, has not been able to guarantee a uniform educational experience– notwithstanding our boast of full and equal access to the edifices constructed to accommodate.

The establishment of charitable trusts and foundations under the Charities Act of 2013 affords the possibility of avoiding the commingling of funds and the attendant loss of administrative control, a source of continuing frustration to administrators of all public schools.

PAUL JENNINGS