St Charles placement an error, Garcia

In response to a question about the students who could not be accepted into the school, Education Minister Anthony Garcia told reporters on Friday that the remaining 25 students have been placed in government schools.

“Through an error, a fault of the ministry, 50 students were assigned to St Charles High School,” Garcia said.

On learning of the error, Garcia said he spoke with members of the school board and Archbishop Joseph Harris assured him he would “Do what he can so that an end to the situation could be achieved.” After meeting with the school board, Garcia said board members were “adamant” that they could not accept more than 25 students.

“The argument put forward by the board was that the stipend they receive from the ministry as payment for the children who attend the school was small,” said Garcia.

“It would be more profitable to them if they have other private students who would fill (the spaces).” He added, “Government, through the Ministry of Education, pays the school authorities to accommodate students.” Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Harilal Seecharan said that Government pays the school $1,200 per student each term, or, $3,600 a year per student.

“Once the decision was made to transfer the 25 students, we looked at the students’ course, their choices and availability of places,” Seecharan said.

The general process applied for the placement of students who wrote the SE A was used. Based on their scores, students who selected St Charles as a first choice were accepted into the school, while the remaining students were placed in Government schools.

“We had no choice but to place (them) in other schools,” Seecharan said.