Williams defends special needs transfers amid criticism of unwarranted waste | Stories of lead

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Opposition education spokeswoman Angela Brown Burke criticized the Education Department’s decision to remove students with special needs from the Adonijah group of schools over unpaid fees.

But on Wednesday, Education Minister Fayval Williams told The Gleaner she was happy with her department’s decision to transfer the students despite the fury caused.

“I had the investigation done. I have read the report and I am happy that our students are placed in a different environment which will also support them, ”she said.

Brown Burke said the move is even tougher given what she describes as an unjustifiable waste of resources by the department and several of its agencies, which have been accused of improprieties by the Auditor General.

Equally worrying, Brown Burke said, is the ministry’s indecisiveness in resolving the multi-million dollar wage saga surrounding ousted Education Minister Ruel Reid, entangled in fraud and corruption charges. . Reid, who is paid $ 4.6 million a year, has been on special leave from the management of Jamaica College since 2019.

Brown Burke said the contrasting situations were evidence of the ministry’s poor care for children with special needs.

“It’s even more concerning when we look at the undue waste within the ministry, where it’s clear that the people who should make sure they take care of their fiduciary responsibilities, make sure we’re getting good value for money. – price, that this money goes to people connected by contract, ”she said.

Last Friday, The Gleaner reported that 17 students with special needs who attended the Adonijah cluster of schools in St Andrew were moved after the ministry failed to honor its pledge to pay more than $ 1.3 million in tuition fees.

Students were excluded from classes because the school informed parents that its finances had been in the red since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and worsened when fees were not paid.

BEST INTERESTS OF CHILDREN

The students were removed from the Waltham Park Road-based institution, which specializes in teaching children with “varying degrees of learning ability”, and placed at One Way Preparatory School on Newark Avenue in Kingston.

Parents insisted that the latter school lacks the resources to properly care for their children.

Williams said the ministry will work with One Way Prep to improve its infrastructure and services.

“We must always act in the best interests of our children,” she added.

Brown Burke said it may be justifiable to integrate students with special needs into other schools, but many of those transferred don’t fare as well.

“What it really shows is that the ministry, I think, has not really taken into account the real needs of these students,” the opposition spokesman said, adding that concerns have grown. intensified amid the pandemic.

The director of the Center for People with Disabilities at the University of the West Indies, Dr Floyd Morris, told The Gleaner he had developed an aversion to the ministry, highlighting the litany of scandals that have emerged.

Morris, who is blind and an opposition senator, said the ministry’s willingness to pay an additional $ 80,000 per student for its Sixth Form Pathways program was in stark contrast to its reluctance to fund education for students with special needs.

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