Stakeholders are predicting a paradigm shift in the primary-school system as parents of children attending preparatory schools flock to public schools to circumvent the hike in tuition fees at private institutions.
At least two primary-school principals in the Corporate Area say they are already seeing this in effect.
Alex Hepburn, principal of the Mona Heights Primary School in St Andrew, told The Gleaner that he had received 97 applications for transfer for grades 2-4 in the last four weeks, and half of that number were from parents wanting to transfer their children from private institutions.
“We are a school of choice. We have the same sort of offerings that most prep schools have. We have over 23 active clubs and societies, and the academic output is as good as any prep school. We’re ranked in the top two percentile,” he stated.
Jessie Ripoll Primary School’s O’Neil Stevens said he was also seeing an increase in the number of parents seeking transfer.
“We have seen an increase, especially for grade one students, grade three students and the grade five students,” he said.
He said the school closed off its registration process last week but had been receiving “a host” of requests for transfer from parents whose children are attending private schools.
Stevens said, so far, he had received 58 requests, but that it was highly unlikely that the school would be able to accommodate these students.
“Because there’s a heightened interest in parents wanting their children to come to Jessie Ripoll, we have to try and complete our class lists as soon as possible, so because of that, it may be a challenge for us to add to the large cohort of students in each grade, so it’s a little more challenging because we want to have manageable class sizes,” he said, adding that the average class size is 35-40 students.
This year’s unusually high increase in school fees charged by private institutions is partly as a consequence of the Government’s recent public-sector compensation review, which included an increase in salaries for school teachers.
As a result, some private schools have hiked their tuition fees by up to 40 per cent, which they say is to prevent an exodus of teachers attracted to better salaries in the public sector.
Implications for public schools
Meanwhile, National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) President Stewart Jacobs told The Gleaner that while he had not seen increased interest among parents, he was anticipating it.
“Proactively, people are going to look at how much it is that they are going to spend for the entire year – close to half a million dollars for school fees and plus another one- third or two-thirds of that for expense – to send their child to school, uniform, books, and extracurricular activities, they might have to go to the primary school,” he said.
However, he shared that he was concerned about the negative implications this would have on the primary-school system.
“There’s going to be a bursting of the seams of some of these primary schools, and perhaps some of the private schools might come under some strain to pay their bills because whether or not children are in the school, bills are revolving. You just have to pay,” he said.