St. George’s, Grenada, March 5th, 2010: Members of Her Majesty’s Opposition are calling on the Government of Grenada to conduct an urgent review of the school books programme so as to reduce the pain it is causing to the poor and vulnerable and to ensure it does not deny any child the right to an education according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was signed and ratified by the Government of Grenada. 

According to members of the opposition an increasing number of parents are expressing concerns to them about the experiences they are having with the programme.  Apart from the fact that parents who have more than three children in school are finding it difficult to meet the payment of one hundred dollars or more, some are being denied the opportunity to make part payments as they can afford.  According to Opposition member, Hon. Roland Bhola the Parliamentary Representative for St. Andrew North East, in some cases parents who go out of their way to make a part payment are told that is not how the programme operates and their monies are refused, leaving their children without the necessary text books.

In some constituencies, there are cases of students suspended from school because their parents are unable to afford the full payment.  Bhola explained that some students who accidentally damage the books are denied new ones even if they are genuinely unable to pay.  He noted that these drastic measures can only impact negatively on our children’s education. He said it pained him when he encountered a situation in which a seven year old was denied new books because the old ones got wet in a sudden downpour of rain as she was journeying home from school.  He said even when the parent offered to pay for the damaged books in installments; she was not given the new books.   

Meanwhile, many students are left without the required text books despite the fact that they have paid for them in advance.  Many of these parents are not reimbursed their monies even if the child never received the books.  The Opposition believes that for a Government which boasts of the School Books Programme as one of its biggest achievement, every effort should be made to eliminate these problems. 

The opposition says it is convinced that the previous programme was far more effective when needy secondary school students paid $75 dollars and received all their books in a rental scheme, and free books were provided for needy primary school students.  While the opposition has no problem with the principle of free school books for all children, it is of the belief that this should not be at the expense of the poor and vulnerable and certainly not at a time when financial resources are very limited.