Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre delivered on a promise to provide a government subvention on school fees for over 3400 children enrolled in privately-owned preschools. The $170, 400 subsidy retroactively covered expenses for the first term of the 2024 to 2025 academic year, essentially reducing school fees by $50 per child.

Prime Minister Pierre addressed the owners and operators of early childhood development centres on Jan 24.
“We will be giving 110 centres $50 toward school fees. A total of 3409 parents should benefit. So when parents and guardians pay you fees for the next semester, they will pay you $50 less. For many of us, $50 may seem like nothing, but he who feels it most, knows it. For the people who have responsibilities, a $50 reduction on school fees is a lot of money.”

The subsidy follows on the heels of an August 2024 grant that provided 93 registered pre-kindergarten schools with a lump sum of $2500 each for the purchase of school supplies for the 2024 to 2025 academic year, to a total of $232,500. Prime Minister Pierre pledged to continue the subvention into the 2026 academic year.

“In August this year, we will increase the $2500 to $3000,” he told the gathering. “So in the same way that we gave you $2500 to help with supplies and to improve your school centres, we will be back in August 2025. And next January, in 2026 if God spares our lives, we will increase the school fee donation to $100 per child.”
Minister for Education, Hon Shawn Edward, highlighted the importance of preschools and Early Childhood Development Centres in foundational learning. He assured the sub-sector of government’s commitment to ensure that the island’s youngest learners have access to quality education services. 

“You are not engineers, you are not responsible for the roads; you are not medical practitioners, you cannot be the ones to attend to people at the hospitals. But what you do in our sphere of education is equally as important if not more. So irrespective of how people view you, yours is an indispensable role in national development and nation building,” he said.

Watch full report via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM7PM75q46E