Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon Ruel Reid has advised school administrators to discontinue the practice of procuring uniforms for students.

He cited the recent case of an institution that ran into problems when a uniform supplier failed to deliver on time.

“You have taken on that responsibility to procure and provide uniforms for all the students, depended on the supplier, and that supplier did not deliver on time. The students are out of uniform and we have all kinds of transactional problems with the schools,” he lamented.

Senator Reid, who was addressing a principals’ conference at the Kendal Camp and Conference Centre in Manchester recently, also told the school heads to desist from including payment for items such as epaulettes as part of the registration package.

“You can’t put the epaulette on the voucher and say (to the parents) ‘if you don’t pay everything, you can’t get the items and they (the students) can’t attend school’; it is illegal,” he pointed out.

He said schools should encourage parents to pay for items called “consumables” separately.

The ministry, Reid said, will shortly circulate a bulletin to clearly set out the policy.

Senator Reid, meanwhile, told the principals that geotechnical work has been completed for the upgrading of the Bryce Primary School in the parish. He said the $23-million project will bring significant improvements to the institution.

In addition, he said the ministry would be strengthening the furniture procurement process in order to ensure that “you will have furniture that you need on time, at the start of the school year”.

He said that a special repair and maintenance programme will be put in place for primary schools.

Source: Jamaica Observer