Several days ago, the Salvation Army Primary School held its graduation. But, some of the graduates - 18 students to be exact - had outstanding fees which they owed to the school, and as a result, they didn't get their graduation certificates.
The school had to get its money, so these 18 disappointed students would have had to wait until their parents could make arrangements to pay the fees in full.
Well, they'll be able to collect their certificates after all because today, the Area Representative for the Mesopotamia Division, Michael Finnegan paid all their outstanding fees.
It's a huge relief for the parents and a happy moment for the students because they get to hold on to a physical representation of their completion of primary school.
Today, Finnegan told us why he had to help:...
Delcia Chan, Principal - Salvation Army Primary School
"It's been some years now that we have been having problems with parents who are not able to pay their fees. So for this graduation and the last one, what we did is that we would not give the children their certificates - we would hold it and have the parents come in and make some kind of arrangement to pay their fees. But times are hard now and so the parents were complaining that they could afford to pay the fees, so the minister call me a couple days ago offering to clear all the fees of the graduates. The parents and students were very happy to have received their certificates due to Minister Finnegan."
Hon. Michael Finnegan
"I was told I think it was on Tuesday or Monday that the graduation for Salvation Army was held last week and that some 18 students' diplomas were withheld from them because of non-payment in certain areas, so I contacted the school - the principal and she told me that the matter was so. I told her that I would take it up on myself to try to see if I can get the payment for these 18 students so that they may receive their diploma and this is what was done by me."
Daniel Ortiz
"So, I heard a spectator comment that it's a sort of enabling behavior type of thing where the parents should have been the ones responsible enough to make the payments. If they couldn't they should have made some kind of arrangement over the period of time to get all the money to the school. How would you respond to something like that?"
Hon. Michael Finnegan
"I will agree that it is the responsibility of the parents but by the same token if I am placed in a position and I am in a position that I can help students and children and people then I believe that it is incumbent on me to share the wealth."
In an effort to avoid such a situation again, the faculty, staff and parents have come up with a system for next year, where they will pay a small portion every day from the beginning until the end of the year, until all the fees are paid. This way, the school won't have to penalize the graduates.
