Philipsburg: --- The executive council is soon to take a decision to re-open the Charles Leopold Bell School to accommodate some 141 students who could not be placed in the five government schools due to the lack of space. Commissioner of Education William Marlin said the department of education only managed to place 45 students who are between 4 to 6 years and were registered earlier this year to comply with the implementing of compulsory education.
The commissioner said they are hoping to open this school, which is not in use by mid September to accommodate the students. He said the department is presently trying to hire teachers since these professionals are not easily available on St. Maarten. Marlin said they are now looking into the system to see if they can make contact with those persons who have applied for teaching jobs, he further explained that because of the lack of the teachers government as well as government subsidized schools had to keep teachers who are already retired on the job.
Marlin said he gave specific instructions to department to make sure they interview and hire at least four teachers since they would need to have at least four classrooms to accommodate the 141 students that are not placed.
Marlin said another phenomenon noticed is that several persons are now sending for children who are residing overseas and are registering them on St. Maarten since government has decided to comply with the implementing compulsory education. He further explained that they have discussed and decided to phase in the implementation of compulsory of education.
The commissioner said due the influx and implementation, it would cost government millions of guilders per year to provide education to all children. He said he is a firm believer that children that were allowed to live on St. Maarten must have access to education. He said there are instances where friends and relatives of foreign children are trying to register them. Asked if the so-called illegal schools are receiving subsidy from government, Marlin said the executive council did not take any decision in providing subsidies to those schools, he said to obtain subsidy these schools would have to fully comply with the subsidy ordinance that is in place.
