Non-payment of fees puts Special Needs School in jeopardy

Jul 14, 2018 News

Six years ago, the Gifted Hands Special Needs School located at Lot 120 Parade Street, Kingston, Georgetown opened its doors to cater to the learning needs of those with special needs. The privately operated school is headed by Ms. Marcia Smith, who has received commendation for keeping the institution afloat with limited resources.
Currently enrolled at the school are 24 students between the ages of seven and 50 with varying levels of disabilities including: autism, cerebral palsy and down syndrome.
During an interview with this publication, yesterday, Smith revealed that although it is a challenge, the students are afforded lessons in the subject areas of Mathematics and English in accordance to their individual learning ability.
“We teach them the letters of the alphabet and to count but because of their different levels of learning we have to work with them differently…Some might be at the Grade One or Two or Three level and we work at that level,” said Smith.
While Smith has two other teachers on staff, she revealed yesterday that her school also gains support from some volunteers.
But the continuance of the school could be hanging in the balance. This state of affairs, Smith said, is directly linked to a financial situation that she hopes will quickly become a thing of the past.
Smith yesterday lamented that the situation is one that came into being because of what she believes is negligence on the part of parents of a few of the very students attending the school. “They have been negligent in paying their fees…and I think it may be because they are taking me and the service I offer for granted or even worse they are taking their own children for granted,” Smith bemoaned.
The fee per term amounts to $40,000 but, according to Smith, parents have the option to pay a monthly sum of $13,400.
“I have children from all walks of life attending my school with parents from various social status,” Smith revealed, adding “it is usually the ones who are well off are refusing to pay. I have students whose parents are cleaners but they are paying their fees straight but the ones who have it are negligent.”
According to Smith, although about eight parents have been consistently delinquent “I don’t have the heart to just turn their children away. They would send their children to school with taxis and have them picked up back with taxis and some of them have stopped answering their phones altogether; they have blocked me on Whatsapp and even on Facebook too.”
She added, “All I have been asking them is to please clear your bills so that the school could continue to function optimally in the interest of the students who are in need of the extra attention.” “This has been going on since school started but it is becoming overbearing now…some have even taken their children out of school without even paying off their fees,” said Smith who revealed that even without the fees she is still required to pay all of her utility bills as well as the rental for the facility where the school is housed.
“I can’t tell GPL or GTT I’m not paying them; I still have to pay NIS contributions, I still have to pay salaries,” stressed Smith who is hoping that the conscience of the delinquent parents would guide them to do the right thing.
Smith added, “I have not been refusing these students because a part of me understands the need to sincerely help them if they are to become productive citizens…”
“What is worrying to me, too, is that when I ask some of these parents to pay up, instead of paying they use psychology on the children by telling them ‘Teacher Marcie don’t want you to come to school’. That is not only unfair to me but unfair to the children too,” said Smith.
In the meantime, Smith said, she continues to lose with the most recent development being a letter from the Guyana Revenue Authority [GRA] stating that the school must pay-up outstanding tax returns.
“Whether they [parents] pay or not, I have to pay GRA; I have to pay the costs for running a school,” said Smith who despite the challenge is still optimistic that her school will thrive and even meet the 10-year milestone offering a service that is second to none.
But Smith insisted yesterday, “I am not going to be closing my school down because of a few delinquent parents, but I want them to know that they are unfair to me; they are unfair to these students by putting the operation of this school in jeopardy,” said Smith.

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Non-payment of fees puts Special Needs School in jeopardy

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