Parents who picket against VAT on school fees are justified in so doing

Mar 31, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I have just read a letter published in your newspaper on March 28th entitled “Some Private Schools leave much to be desired” written by Sahadeo Bates. I wish to respond to this letter as it is totally necessary that some points of order be clarified for the benefit of the public. It would be an injustice for the public to be misled by that letter.
Mr. Sahadeo has condemned parents for being out of touch with reality because he seems to suggest that the quality of private schools is not worth the fight. I wonder when was the last time Mr. Sahadeo has taken a look at the NGSA results. At this level, it is indeed private schools that dominate and those few public school students who squeeze in the top 100 are not products of their public school but master pieces of private lessons.
Mr. Sahadeo clearly and correctly stated that parents will be burdened with directly paying the VAT. He goes on to question whether parents know what they are defending when picketing. Is it not brutally clear that they are defending themselves and their children? If the VAT will be burdened on them then they are not fighting for the interest of the school but the interest of their own child’s future and as an extension that of our country’s.
Mr. Sahadeo lambasted an emotional parent for what appears to be an exaggeration of the standards of the public school. I myself would not allow any dishonest slander to be the base of the No VAT on education argument but this is one questionable case and should not be used to discredit the entire movement.
Mr. Sahadeo had questioned the motive behind parents sending their children to private school. He stated that parents send their children who are not educated or qualified enough to attend ‘bright schools’ (Queen’s College, Saints etc) to private schools to not look bad in their social group. Personally, I believe that this is a right, a freedom, granted to parents under our constitution and human rights act. Their hands should not be forced. If they want to protect their social clout then let them. However, I do not believe that this is the case at all. The ‘reality’ is that most schools below the ‘bright schools’ are of a deplorable standard in infrastructure and teaching amongst many other short-comings. Mr. Sahadeo has well illustrated the short-comings of the public institutions without knowing it. He stated that teachers in the public institution have to jump from class to class at the same time to teach. If this is not a true demerit then I don’t know what is.
Mr. Sahadeo goes on to present the case of Meet-en-Meerzorg private school which I believe should be investigated. I share his concerns where some private schools are not meeting the standards they are supposed to and it is the job of the Ministry of Education to keep them in check, not VAT.
It must be clarified that the protest action against the VAT on private education is not in the interest of private institutions but in the interest of parents, in the interest of our children and in the interest of our country. There are indeed other issues in the private system like tax compliance but VAT is not the answer to those issues. VAT in no way solves the issue of tax compliance. VAT in no way solves the issue of the standards of the private institutions. Both of those issues are already the jobs of GRA and the Ministry of Education respectively to handle.
The reality, editor, is that parents and students are defending their future. It has nothing to do with the private schools itself because they will go about their business as usual. It is our people who get hurt, and that is the sad reality.
Othniel Lewis

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