THA to help private schools

Chief Secretary of the THA, Orville London, said that enough financial resources would be made available to private secondary schools on the island to ensure that they do not suffer any major inconvenience during the next academic year. London sought to assure the management of the schools that they were unlikely to be any worse off where resources were concerned during the upcoming academic year than they were in the just completed academic year. He assured there will be adequate funding for expenses such as the payment of teachers and the purchasing of equipment. He noted that because the number of students on the island who sat this year’s SEA exam was less than the number of available places in the government secondary and secondary-assisted schools on the island, the arithmetic did not support them placing any of the students in private secondary schools. “It would be irresponsible, even reckless, for this administration to even contemplate paying for additional school places in a scenario where the places available in the government and government assisted schools are more than adequate.” London said.

While it was obvious that the private schools would no longer play a major role in conventional education on the island, London said that they were looking at including them in post-secondary education “whether it is repeaters, whether it is a matter of preparing people for the world of work or sixth form. The point I am making is that we are not abandoning the private secondary schools. In fact what we have done is to go the extra mile to ensure that there is the transition period during which the necessary adjustments would be made.” He said, however, that the private secondary schools have a responsibility to recognise that there is now a change in situation and they too will have to make adjustments to determine how best they could develop under the circumstances.