The Education Ministry says it’s satisfied that the resources and preparations necessary for a smooth start to the new academic year are in place.

As part of the general preparations, Education Minister Ruel Reid explains that school plants have been renovated, furniture provided and the first tranche of operational grants have been sent to schools on time.

The ministry will be spending billions to provide funding for the schools for the new school year.

Speaking at the back to school press conference, Mr. Reid says its non- mandatory policy towards the payment of parents’ contribution also remains in place for the new school year.

Mr. Reid points out that schools administrations should abide by these guidelines.

He says the disbursement of funds to all secondary schools is being maintained at a maximum of $19,000 per student and special support in selected areas of up to $11,000 dollars per student.

In addition, the Education Minister says the ministry will be providing support in other areas such as funding for temporary and part- time teachers, as well as the school feeding programme.

In the meantime, the Education Ministry says over $200 m was provided to schools for the implementation of the National Standards Curriculum (NSC).

Education Minister Ruel Reid says the ministry has completed the phased implementation of the NSC programme, which started in 2016.

According to Mr. Reid the ministry will commence the distribution of the full curriculum publication to schools for each teacher, as there have been complaints that the resources are not readily available.

He says this will be completed by the second week in September.

In addition he says the ministry continues to monitor the feedback regarding the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).