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SCHOOLS REFUSE DISABLED CHILD
Eighteen-year-old disabled student, Kemar Cummings, achieved his goal when he successfully passed all seven subjects he sat in the recent CXC examinations. But although his results, five ones and two grade twos, were outstanding, he faced another challenge when he tried to get enrolled in a sixth-form programme.
Cummings suffers from [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]cerebral [COLOR=blue ! important]palsy[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], a disease which affects his motor skills and his speech. Because of his limited movement, he uses a walker to get around and according to his father, Orville Cummings, "when someone else might take five minutes to write a paragraph, he might take half an hour . Throughout [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]high [COLOR=blue ! important]school[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] (Mona High), he had to get additional time to complete his work, because he takes very long to write."
Kemar has dreams of becoming a journalist and a sixth-form education is key in ensuring that that dream is fulfilled. Mona High does not have a sixth-form programme and so armed with his impressive grades, his parents set off to find him a good institution. His father told THE STAR: "Both my wife and myself were elated. He's coming from very far, from when he used to go to Hope Valley Experimental, so seeing him come through all the struggles was good."
Traditional high schools
The fact that most schools were not willing to accommodate his son, however, was not something Cummings was expecting. At least four traditional high schools that he approached about enrolling his son all expressed their inability to do so, citing lack of proper infrastructure as the reason. Cummings revealed that most of the schools hosted their sixth-form classes upstairs. Kemar can only comfortably move around on the ground level.
He explained. "We could not get him into a sixth form. All the schools we checked, their sixth form is on the second [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]floor[/COLOR][/COLOR] and they can't accommodate him. They're not willing to try to see what they can do. We did not go to every single [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]school[/COLOR][/COLOR] in Jamaica, but we tried a lot of schools and the principals told us no. It's very disheartening, both for me and my wife. It's a disappointing thing when you go before a principal with these kinds of results and they say they cannot accommodate him."
Luckily for the Cummings family, a private institution, Quality Academics in St. Andrew, has come to their rescue. After paying a hefty cost of $100,000 per year, Kemar began school yesterday. "It's almost like if [this school] didn't accept him, we would have to send him overseas or his education would have to stop at this level," Cummings said. Kemar has plans to go to university and according to his father, wants to go straight into his Ph.D.
The rejection from the high schools has not dampened Kemar's spirits and his father added, " he has faith in his parents. He knows that we are fighters, we have been fighting for him since day one. We will not give up, we'll do anything it takes. He has seen us fighting, so he knew we would have found somewhere for him to go."
Gloria Goffe, Coordinator of the Combined Disabilities Association, agrees that there are not enough facilities to accommodate the disabled. She told THE STAR, "There have been a lot of appeals made, but we still have a long way to go especially in terms of classrooms. Other people have applied and got accepted to schools only to realise that they can't access the facilities. I know that as a part of the [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]educational[/COLOR][/COLOR] reform, they put in some ramps, but some of these places have upstairs and I don't anticipate an elevator being put in place."
She also expressed that no one's dreams should be put on hold for lack of resources. "The situation that is facing him now, has faced others before and if not corrected, will face others as well. The sky is the limit and nothing should stop him from getting there, especially not things we can correct."
Attempts by THE STAR to speak with a representative from the Ministry of [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Education[/COLOR][/COLOR] and some of the schools that Cummings attempted to get into were unsuccessful.
Eighteen-year-old disabled student, Kemar Cummings, achieved his goal when he successfully passed all seven subjects he sat in the recent CXC examinations. But although his results, five ones and two grade twos, were outstanding, he faced another challenge when he tried to get enrolled in a sixth-form programme.
Cummings suffers from [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]cerebral [COLOR=blue ! important]palsy[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], a disease which affects his motor skills and his speech. Because of his limited movement, he uses a walker to get around and according to his father, Orville Cummings, "when someone else might take five minutes to write a paragraph, he might take half an hour . Throughout [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]high [COLOR=blue ! important]school[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] (Mona High), he had to get additional time to complete his work, because he takes very long to write."
Kemar has dreams of becoming a journalist and a sixth-form education is key in ensuring that that dream is fulfilled. Mona High does not have a sixth-form programme and so armed with his impressive grades, his parents set off to find him a good institution. His father told THE STAR: "Both my wife and myself were elated. He's coming from very far, from when he used to go to Hope Valley Experimental, so seeing him come through all the struggles was good."
Traditional high schools
The fact that most schools were not willing to accommodate his son, however, was not something Cummings was expecting. At least four traditional high schools that he approached about enrolling his son all expressed their inability to do so, citing lack of proper infrastructure as the reason. Cummings revealed that most of the schools hosted their sixth-form classes upstairs. Kemar can only comfortably move around on the ground level.
He explained. "We could not get him into a sixth form. All the schools we checked, their sixth form is on the second [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]floor[/COLOR][/COLOR] and they can't accommodate him. They're not willing to try to see what they can do. We did not go to every single [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]school[/COLOR][/COLOR] in Jamaica, but we tried a lot of schools and the principals told us no. It's very disheartening, both for me and my wife. It's a disappointing thing when you go before a principal with these kinds of results and they say they cannot accommodate him."
Luckily for the Cummings family, a private institution, Quality Academics in St. Andrew, has come to their rescue. After paying a hefty cost of $100,000 per year, Kemar began school yesterday. "It's almost like if [this school] didn't accept him, we would have to send him overseas or his education would have to stop at this level," Cummings said. Kemar has plans to go to university and according to his father, wants to go straight into his Ph.D.
The rejection from the high schools has not dampened Kemar's spirits and his father added, " he has faith in his parents. He knows that we are fighters, we have been fighting for him since day one. We will not give up, we'll do anything it takes. He has seen us fighting, so he knew we would have found somewhere for him to go."
Gloria Goffe, Coordinator of the Combined Disabilities Association, agrees that there are not enough facilities to accommodate the disabled. She told THE STAR, "There have been a lot of appeals made, but we still have a long way to go especially in terms of classrooms. Other people have applied and got accepted to schools only to realise that they can't access the facilities. I know that as a part of the [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]educational[/COLOR][/COLOR] reform, they put in some ramps, but some of these places have upstairs and I don't anticipate an elevator being put in place."
She also expressed that no one's dreams should be put on hold for lack of resources. "The situation that is facing him now, has faced others before and if not corrected, will face others as well. The sky is the limit and nothing should stop him from getting there, especially not things we can correct."
Attempts by THE STAR to speak with a representative from the Ministry of [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Education[/COLOR][/COLOR] and some of the schools that Cummings attempted to get into were unsuccessful.
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