Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 18/Nov 09:40

Student transfers

ON NOVEMBER 10, and again on November 13, this newspaper highlighted the plight of a parent supposedly waiting for approximately one year for a transfer request to be processed, alluding to the unnecessary and unacceptable bureaucracy involved in the process. While the parent side of the story was presented, caution must be prompted when pronouncing on the matter, without knowledge of the full facts; the reason(s) for the inordinate delay, which by any means is inexcusable. School administrators are approached by parents on a daily basis for transfers for varying reasons, including change of address, preference for another school type or even based on allegations of fear for student safety or victimisation. Each case is treated on its individual merit based on policy guidelines from the Ministry of Education. In the past, transfers were a simple routine process. If a parent were desirous of a transfer for their child, they would simply obtain a designated transfer form, fill out Section A indicating the reason for the transfer. They would then take the form to the new school to which they would like the child to attend. If the principal can facilitate the request, Section B of the form is then filled out, indicating the school’s willingness to accept the child. This is evidenced by the principal’s signature and school stamp. The parent then approaches the school that the child is currently attending and the principal then signs and stamps Section C indicating the school’s willingness to release the child. This form is then forwarded to the district office where the line supervisor will then approve the transfer request, by filling out Section D of the form, being satisfied that all the requirements of the ministry have been complied with. At all stages, the parent is warned that the child must remain in the current enrolled school until the supervisor issues a transfer approval in writing. Once such approval is given to the parent and principals of the accepting and releasing schools, only then can the parent proceed to register the child at the new school. This process usually took two-three weeks. If for some reason the parent was finding difficulty in securing a place at another school, the intervention of the relevant supervisor was sought. One must also be mindful that space is usually a major mitigating factor in this process. The above procedure applied to both primary and secondary schools and essentially served the system well until the ministry decided, for unspecified reasons, to supposedly streamline the process, requiring that all transfer requests be made directly to the Ministry of Education. A transfer committee was then set up to receive and consider hundreds of transfer requests, completely removing the discretion of principals and supervisors from the process. Many school administrators were surprised by this move to make a simple, straightforward process suddenly bureaucratic and complicated, with many pondering "what problem the authorities were trying to fix." This move was yet another in a trend of curtailing many discretionary powers of school principals and supervisors. It must be noted that transfer requests arising out of SEA placements were always handled by the ministry for obvious reasons, including the magnitude of the exercise. However, parents were still advised that they must register the child at the school to which he/she was assigned to ensure the child has an assured space in a secondary school until the transfer request is processed. Given the case highlighted by this newspaper, the minister of education, who is quite conversant with the former simplified transfer arrangement, may want to revisit the existing transfer procedures established by the ministry, with input from school administrators and supervisors in an effort to improve efficiency and accountability in the process. It must also be noted that many parents may request transfers based on allegations of school authorities ignoring reports of bullying and intimidation, which when investigated quite often turn out to be untrue. Parents have been known to accuse school officials of nonchalantly dealing with such allegations, ignoring the fact that school officials can only work within the ambit of the law. This reality sometimes does not meet with parents' satisfaction and may in turn prompt a transfer request. It is also known that transfer requests have been facilitated despite allegations of unsatisfactory action by school authorities to allegations of bullying, only to reveal that the problem persists at the new school. Clearly deeper analyses of such allegations are necessary when these transfer requests are made. The post Student transfers appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.