Parents Urged to Pay Auxiliary Fees

Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, is reminding parents that while the government has abolished tuition fees at the secondary level, they should still contribute to their child’s educational development through the payment of auxiliary fees.
“We have eased the budget constraint by taking away compulsory tuition fees. You will still be faced with a contributory fee or what is termed as the auxiliary fees. Those fees, while they are not compulsory, we still encourage parents to contribute to the education of their children,” he said.
Mr. Holness, who was speaking at the opening of the new Overseas Examinations Commission building on Piccadilly Drive in Kingston, on Wednesday (Oct. 3) said that the Ministry has also received several complaints from parents that principals are still demanding the payment of tuition fees.
“I have received complaints and we are in the process of investigating such complaints. There may be some residual resistance to the new policy,” he said, noting that in some ways, “it is understandable, because principals and school administrators would want to do everything in their power to protect the revenue so that they can run the schools.”
He assured however that the government is committed to making the promised payments to the schools. “I want to assure the principals and administrators that the commitment we have given to pay the entire amount of the previously obligatory tuition fee is a solid commitment and that by November, we will start the process of reimbursing the schools,” he stated.
In the meantime, the Education Minister said that the opening of the new Overseas Examinations Commission was a major achievement in terms of the educational development of Jamaicans.
The building was constructed at a cost of $134 million and houses seminar training rooms, examination rooms and information technology laboratories and archival rooms.