INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS are examining ways to diversify their programmes to meet the needs of students and the wider society as they struggle to survive in harsh economic climes.

According to Dr. Winsome Oban, president of the High Schools section of the Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA), independent schools have realised this and have developed inititatives in skills training, re-organisation of schools, flexible class scheduling and innovative courses, some of which are linked directly to the job market.

Dr. Oban, who is also director of the Teamwork School, Montego Bay, said that JISA has also recognised the need for schools to improve management and administration and was seeking expertise which could help those institutions experiencing difficulties in financial management, leadership and programme diversification.

"These are not the days when schools can just function with talented academicians or persons skilled in pedagogy. We have to have leaders and managers," Dr. Oban said.

The recent closure of the Dunrobin High School, St. Andrew, has highlighted the plight of several independent schools, which have been put under pressure by various factors. Some which normally received students who did not gain high school placement under the Common Entrance Examinations (CEE) saw enrolments decrease when government secondary schools were re-classified, creating more public high school places. Economic problems have also prompted some parents to send their children to cheaper government-run schools or have seriously affected fee collection at some private high schools.

Salary hikes

Dr. Oban noted that some problems began when private schools were forced to match government's salary increases to public school teachers in the early to mid-1990s, often by raising fees to maintain salaries which would attract teachers.

Dion Clarke, principal of Covenant Christian Academy, St. Andrew, noted that while these factors have affected enrolment in some private schools, many others were still holding their own.

She said that church schools were still quite successful, especially since they have a niche market with a particular clientele. Also, many rural private schools and those which have developed creative approaches to education were doing well. Mrs. Clarke supported Dr. Oban's view that independent schools should develop alternative approaches to education.

"Schools need to examine the product they are selling to the market and they have to come up with a product worth paying for. It must be different and better than what the public system is offering."

In recent years, Government has come to the rescue of several private schools experiencing difficulties. In 1997 Priory High, St. Andrew, received grant-in-aid status, while Iona High, St. Mary, and Gaynstead High, St. Andrew, followed suit in 1998.

Proposed assistance to Dunrobin High from the Education Ministry, however, did not materialise. Freda Jones, registrar of the ministry's Independent Schools Unit, said programmes to assist private schools or to buy spaces for students in those schools were discussed last year, but no negotiations have yet been opened on such schemes.

"Submissions would have to be made for the budget before we open negotiations with a school. Nothing has been made in the budget yet, so the situation has remained the same," Mrs. Jones said.