Government to revisit schools contingency fees
by Sharon Lall
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday announced that the payment of contingency fees at schools throughout the country is to be done only on a voluntary basis. "No child should be denied access to schools, to textbooks to anything...because of contingency fees. "Once my Government is in power, no one will deny any child access to education," the President declared at the biggest ever Youth Conference held in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne). The Head of State, addressing some 600 youngsters at the Central Corentyne Secondary School, said he is soon to make a statement on the issue. The Ministry of Education last week said the contribution of contingency funds at the Nursery level must be $700 for two years; the primary department $1,000 upon admission and $500 upon entry to Primary Three; and at the Secondary level $1,500 upon entry and $1,000 thereafter. For parents having more than one child in the same school, the stipulation is that the full sum shall be paid for the first child, 75 per cent for the second, 50 per cent for the third and 25 per cent for the fourth child. The Ministry claimed that the contingency fees should be used for "cost emergency", subsidising field trips and purchasing and cleaning equipment and educational support materials. However, President Jagdeo said contingency fees which many persons are "forced" to pay, should be voluntary. "Contingency fees is treated across the schools in Guyana as compulsory. It is not. It is a voluntary contribution. "If you can afford to make a contribution, then you make it; if you cannot, no child should suffer because of this," he maintained. The Ministry of Education, in a list of regulations to ensure accountability in the payment of contingency fees, outlined that cash-in-hand must not exceed $10,000. It said Contingency Fund records must be kept separately; receipts must be issued for monies received and these must support all expenditures; accounts should be audited annually, and all records are to be subjected to an inspection by officials at the Ministry of Education.
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