Dear Editor,
My relative’s daughter enrolled at the Anointed Minds Day Care and Nursery School on McDoom Public Road, in the day-care section in December 2007. As of July 2009 she started to attend the nursery. The parent called the owner at the end of August informing her that she overpaid her by $20,000. She was asked to bring her receipt; this was done the next day. The owner is not at the school permanently; she visits twice per day. She couldn’t find her copies, and she made all sorts of excuses, but she should have known she had charged four payments per term instead of three.
Finally she decided to give back part of the money. She asked the parents if the child was going back to the school, and when told no, she said the parents had inconvenienced her, and she took out $6,500 for a registration fee, returning $13,500 to the parents.
When the child started out on December 15, 2007 she took one month’s fee, instead of a half month’s fee. She insisted that they don’t have half-month fees.
I think the Ministry of Education should check on some of these schools.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address
provided)
We sent a copy of this letter to Ms Debra Glen, the Manager of the Anointed Minds Prophetic School of Excellence for any comment she might have wished to make and received a response an edited version of which is printed below:
“With respect to the allegations made by the individual about my school, they must understand that there are policies in place and the school’s rules and regulations are on the agreement forms which each parent has the opportunity to read and understand. By putting their signature on these they give their agreement to such regulations on the admission of their child/children to the daycare centre. Nothing is forced upon anyone in this regard.
“When the parent of the said child mentioned came to the centre for admission of her child, she was told that these were the requirements, and indeed it was indicated that there was no clause dealing with a half month’s payment of fees. The parent agreed to the policy and systems and enrolled her child in the daycare in 2007 willingly and with enthusiasm.
“During the child’s stay at the daycare centre section we had several instances where requests were made by the parent who was unable to meet the required due date for payment, and most of the time I had to ask the supervisor to grant her an extension of sometimes two weeks into the new month before the fees were paid. This was repeated, and while I was lenient, I never thought that this parent would be so unfair at the end.
“I am not stationed at the school but have a supervisor who manages the day-to-day operations. In regard to the over-payment, when I was notified, I called the supervisor who was there at that time, to make a check to see what the conclusion was.
At first, the supervisor indicated that the allegation of overpaying fees was not true. I went to the school and double-checked for myself and made the discovery that an extra twenty thousand dollars had been paid in July.
“Nevertheless, the fees for the nursery section of the school, which the said child attended since September of 2009, were to be paid by August 20, 2010 for the new school term starting in the month of September, 2010. When the parent was approached about the payment due for the upcoming term, she indicated that she was looking after something for her daughter and she would tell us or talk to us later about it.
“No indication was given to myself or the supervisor that the child would not be returning to the school, until September 3, 2010, the Friday before school re-opened.
On September 6, 2010, the mother of the child called to say that her daughter would no longer be a part of the school and also pointed out that she had made an overpayment and needed that money back so she could buy things for her daughter to attend the new school.
“After this was conveyed, I reminded the parent that the policy of the school was that fees were not refundable and also had to be paid in advance, to which she had agreed since the beginning of her daughter’s schooling at the centre. However, I said I would oblige her in refunding part of the fees because she had to pay for the space of the child and the fact that she had inconvenienced the school by her actions.
“Editor, I think that most of the parents coming to these private schools expect to pay whenever they feel like it, and are not taking into consideration the fact that teachers (caregivers) have to be paid a salary from the fees which are collected, not forgetting the rent and utility bills that need to be paid as well as certain necessities which are essential in assisting with the upkeep of the facility to maintain the standards required.
“I would therefore like to conclude by saying that whatever we do we should not jeopardize anyone, but allow each child to learn and play in a child-friendly environment which is conducive to learning. This issue is not about the money, but maintaining principle and policy as the school matures and children are blessed daily.”
