Parents, Al-Madinah Islamic Academy clash over fees

Oct 14, 2018 News

The parents who protested Friday.

Parents last Friday for the first time protested against the board of directors and the principal of the Al-Madinah Islamic Academy on the Essequibo Coast.

Kaieteur News was on the scene when almost 30 parents turned out to protest against the actions of the principal, and the institution’s board of directors. The Al-Madinah Islam Academy is a learning institution on the Essequibo Coast, which offers Primary and Secondary education to almost 200 students of all religious backgrounds.

Parents said that instead of working along with the Parent-Teacher Association [PTA], the school board appears to be running the school under a dictatorship.

“The PTA has a body and every time we plan to do things, the board always object to it. Then they want we to inform them about everything we do and then they gon give we a decision whether to go ahead or not. If we want to have a fundraiser or want to keep meeting, they will tell us when to keep meeting and when not to.”

One parent said that the school board has made changes to the term payments, even without meaningful consultation with parents.

The parent added, “At the school, $4000 is now for a month at primary and secondary is $5000 inclusive of the bus fare… I does pay my school fee at the end of every term… $20,000 a term at secondary but now they want to change it.

Now they want the lump sum money at the start of every month on the first Friday. If you can’t pay then you got to pay a penalty and the principal said that he will put the children out of the school.”

Parents also told this publication that the principal’s actions do not befit that of a leader; taking the lead in heading a learning institution. Commenting on his actions, one parent said, “One child from Supenaam is very slow and he gone home and complain to the parents that the teachers don’t mark he book. And the headmaster tell the mother, take yuh child out and see what you gon do with he. The child is only in grade six and he paying he school fee.”

Based on information reaching this publication, a number of qualified teachers quit their jobs at the Academy, allegedly because of the Principal’s behaviour. Kaieteur News understands that teachers at the Academy’s secondary level, are not qualified. It was also noted there are students in CXC, and Pre-CXC classes.

Kaieteur News understands that the Al-Madinah Islamic Academy was established in 2001. The members of the board then included persons from the Masjid’s throughout the Essequibo Coast. Representative of the Guyana Islamic Trust [GIT] and the Abligh Movement were also introduced to the board as members. Kaieteur News was informed, however that these key persons were not installed on the board for some two years.

When contacted for a comment, the Secretary of the Board, Shafeek Ferouz, said that the allegations hurled against the board and principal are unsubstantiated. Ferouz also pointed out that the Academy is a private institution and it depends on the timely payment of student fees to run its operation.

It was brought to the attention of this publication, that a number of parents owed outstanding fees to the institution.

Ferouz added, “The fee for primary is just about $2000 to $3000 per month and at the secondary is about $3000 to $4000 and the monthly expose for teacher’s salary is about $1.2 million per month…

“We also rely on donations from a few sponsors and from the Muslim community, but now because of the present economic conditions, we have seen a decrease in the number of donors and sponsors. We had to implement measures to ensure payments can cover our monthly expenses.”

When asked to comment on the allegations of the Principal’s rude behaviour, the secretary said that no teacher ever brought the matter to the board’s attention. Claims are that just two teachers quit under the new principal, not because of an ‘attitude problem,’ but because the pay was meagre.

The secretary added, “The protest seems to have another agenda because the principal worked with us for a number of years and an attitude problem was never reported to the board. By all protocols if a problem did exist, then the board would have been the first to be consulted. In this case, the board was never consulted.”

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