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PHILIPSBURG--The subsidy for National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) had “ceased” in August last year, and is currently being corrected by authorities, Secretary-General of the Education Ministry Jorien Wuite told Members of Parliament (MPs) Friday.

Wuite said it had been discovered that there had been a “discrepancy” in what NIPA had received as subsidy, “which placed them in a sensitive” situation. She told MPs these issues were currently being looked into.

“Since August 2014 certain payments had ceased and the [Education – Ed.] Ministry had requested the Finance Ministry to immediately [rectify this problem – Ed]” Wuite said. She said too that the amount the institute should be receiving has to be increased, since the subsidy it received in 2013 “was of a different nature in 2014 and should be retroactively corrected.”

It could not be ascertained exactly how big the discrepancy was and the amount NIPA was not paid since August last year.

Friday’s meeting of the Permanent Committee for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Affairs (CECYSA) was called to discuss concerns regarding NIPA.

Wuite had said earlier in the meeting that educational institutions in St. Maarten received subsidy based on a lump-sum system. She said, however, that this system contained “flaws” and authorities were working to move over to a new system to correct this. “We do believe that the new system will alleviate shortfalls currently being experienced,” she told MPs.

MPs raised a number of concerns about the institute with Education Minister Rita Bourne-Gumbs and her delegation of education officials during Friday’s session, which was chaired by Committee Chairperson National Alliance (NA) MP Silveria Jacobs, a former Education Minister and seasoned educator.

The meeting was originally scheduled to be a closed-door session, but was later announced as an open session. The convening of the meeting followed concerns raised by NIPA students regarding a range of issues at the institution. Students had expressed frustration and disgust at the shortage of teachers for key subjects at the institute, noting that this is affecting their course of study. They also complained about lack of communication, fees and other issues.

MPs echoed the concerns of students during the meeting, posing a range of questions to the minister and her team, which included Head of the Education Department Sidonia Hodge, Wuite and Education Inspection official Chantal Schaminee-Ringeling.

Bourne-Gumbs told MPs that NIPA’s board had given its assurance that a committee will be put in place to address the concerns of students and staff. She said the board had been attempting to enhance its communication with students and had assured that it had opened lines of communication.

However, at least one MP indicated that, despite these assurances, there were still communication issues at the institute. The Minister said the concerns expressed by MPs were the same concerns she had. The minister said she had several meetings with NIPA to get clarity on the issues and for solutions.

NIPA’s board has indicated that it is in need of additional personnel and the minister said her immediate advice had been to use instructors on staff as a good support system to alleviate the work load of the director. The ministry can offer dispensation for educators to lecture at the institute, but this has to be requested.

Inspections

Schaminee-Ringeling elaborated on inspections conducted at the Institute in December 2014. Daytime and evening classes were observed for core subject areas, such as English, math, social skills and information technology. The preliminary report indicated that the performance of the teachers was satisfactory.

However, classes “were rather small.” In some cases there were six students in a classroom, in other cases “not even two” students were in a class.

It was noted that many students left the institution; some needed to find employment; some couldn’t continue the programmes due to financial issues and others had lost interest in the field. Other students were also concerned that job placements had not yet started, and as a result, they were no longer interested in continuing the programme, while others said choices had to be made, but did not elaborate on these choices.