Minister Holness need to give principals authority

Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, has instructed all schools to cap auxiliary fees in the face of difficult economic times. The Minister is once again showing his misunderstanding of the fundamentals of education transformation. The transfer of authority and autonomy from the Ministry to the schools is one of the hallmarks of the transformation process. Currently, the Ministry only contributes to teachers' salary, while school fees, auxiliary fees and fundraisers attempt to close the funding gap.

While schools need Ministry approval for school fees, there is no such requirement for auxiliary fees. In fact, auxiliary fees are not mandatory and in some cases are discouraged by the Ministry. It is at the school level where the decisions are made to set the level of auxiliary fees and which child/parent to target as they know best who can pay and who cannot pay. It is therefore ridiculous for the Minister to now undelegate the authority that schools have successfully exercised over the years. In fact, by taking no responsibility for the running of the schools and trying to take authority for setting auxiliary fees, shows a total misalignment between authority and accountability. The Minister needs to rethink this one and allow the school leadership to run the schools.