Principal of Baptist Academy Dr Hensworth Jonas.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Principal of Baptist Academy Dr Hensworth Jonas is once again defending the school from criticism following a dominant performance by the school’s students at the Common Entrance exams.
The top student in the exam attends Baptist Academy.
One critic accused the school of selecting only those students who perform consistently well to sit exams.
“The Baptist Academy School only does so well because the pastor weeds out students who they think are weak,” was the comment of one aggrieved parent, and essentially sums up the feelings of the school’s critics.
Dr Jonas, however, said such criticism is “plain ridiculous” because the school has no such policy. He explained that the majority of admissions at the school come in at the day-care or pre-school level with students carrying on from that level.
“So we don’t have any real room for admissions, just one or two places may open up in either primary or secondary. One would have to think that you are screening babies. That would be ridiculous wouldn’t it,” Dr Jonas said.
He suggested the critics “are misguided and actually may manifest a bit of jealousy.” The pastor added further that very few students leave the school and in cases when they do, it is rarely through a fault of the student.
“We have one of the lowest attrition rates of any school in this country. Our students don’t leave us, ninety-something per cent of our students go all the way through,” Dr Jonas said.
“Most students who leave it’s not because of the student; it’s because of the parent not complying with our requirements for their participation in the life and education of their children,” the principal added.
He also defended the school’s stance on refusing students with non-compliant parents.
“We never give up on a student even when he or she struggles, but we do give up on parents who do not work with their children. The fact of the matter is I can not be these children’s dad and their mom. I am the principal, so this is a partnership between the home and the school,” Jonas said.
Meanwhile, Dr Jonas also defended the school’s decision to hike fees recently. The charge is that the school is being run more like a business rather than an arm of the church.
“This is not a business in any sense of the word; the kinds of decisions that we make are not good for business. There are people with money who over the years maybe have tried to influence policy in their favour and we just had to let them go,” Jonas said.
The pastor explained while the school tries to be businesslike to manage their resources in the best way, the main target is not to seek a profit.
Dr Jonas said a 1600 canteen, many upgrades in various areas and equipment, improvement in teachers’ salaries and the fact the school does not do any fund-raisers all justify the move to increase the school fees.
“We are probably the cheapest for value in the country and there are schools in this country that are charging three times what the Baptist Academy charges and they are not producing results,” Dr Jonas said.
(More in today’s Daily OBSERVER)
Congratulations to Baptist Academy. I am very proud of the school’s accomplishments through the years because it reminds me of the solid foundation of education that our country had years ago. It is very good to see that a son of the soil is standing up to ensure that our future generation get a sound education today despite all the political drama and social vices that have overshadowed our society recently. The success of this school should serve as a motivation for other schools, both private and public. Keep up the good work Mr. Jonas.
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Also i must say Dr.Jonas is one of the student’s big rolemodels . And he deserves to be top. Because this man sweats and puts passion in his work .
this is based on updates from school sources
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listen, This school looks good on the outside but I’m begging the ministry and the schools to look on the inside because they too have government school problems and as it was recently stated “this is one of Baptists worst academic years”. but that just shows the failure of the education system wherever we go. So please ask the students themselves and not the outer administration. And please stop hating Baptist Academy they deserve to have the top and the same applies to any other school who worked hard this year.
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rules and policies are there to maintain order and standards, there will always be critics. cbuild and cotinue to strive for better next year.
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During the Minister of Education’s presentation of the results, we heard that the top student in the Junior Secondary Examinations got a total of 295 points out of a possible 500. This is 59% folks…59% How come no one is outraged by this? If this does not represent a crisis in education in this country then please tell me what a crisis is? Where are we headed when the top student in the Junior Secondary examination could only achieve 59% We have a culture in this country where people like Dr. Jonas are constantly called upon to defend excellence against constant criticisms, but no one has demanded an explanation from our Ministry of Education and teachers for failure. Well, well, well.
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The Baptist Academy, if I’m not mistaken, has gotten the top position in the common entrance exams six out of the last nine years. Each year I noticed the articles have been focussed on criticizing the school’s policies. The writer of this article in my view is calling upon Dr. Jonas to defend the schools policies. What’s there to defend? Isn’t six top students out of the last nine years enough of a statement of dominance. What I find alarming is that the public schools have been doing very poorly, only gaining a few students in the top 100, compared to the Baptist Academy who this year has gotten seven students in the top ten positions and twenty students in the top 100. We are failing to realize that we have a crisis in our education system in this country and instead of constantly bashing the Baptist Academy, we should be holding the Ministry of Education and the Education Minister responsible for our young people doing so poorly year after year.
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Well done Dr. Jonas too many parents leave up their children to teachers.
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Instead of criticizing, these critics should organize a symposium for school principals and invite Dr. Jonas to disclose the methods, techniques, or best practices that are in use at the Baptist Academy which positively impacts upon the student body and cause them to receive such excellent results on a consistent basis, not only at the Common Entrance level but also at CXC as well. Congratulations Dr. Jonas! Continue the good work of educating the future of our beloved Nation.
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It’s very strange that people on the outside always have a lot to say about Baptist Academy. He is correct; the parents are the ones who take their kids out of the school. And for many years, other schools have thrown kids out because of low performance and no one attacks them. Some kids do develop slow and may have a slight learning disability. Should they be in a Baptist environment? No! They need to seek other alternatives; just like if you are not at the top, you can’t enter Harvard.
Baptist Academy is run on principles. They are not changed at all. Everyone gets a contract by April for the next school year. If you agree with the terms and conditions, you sign. If not, you take your child elsewhere. People want to sign contracts and complain after. The school is a very disciplined school. Look at the kids at some of the other private schools; no discipline whatsoever. You will never see a child that attends Baptist Academy, in town with their pants below the bottom or their belly out.
Give the school a break. It’s the only school that is consistent in whatever they do.
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Three Hip Hip Hooray’s to this school for a job well done.
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Dr. Jonas
Congratulations, you are doing a commendable job. The only way to get Antigua out of the morass it fiends itself, is tru education. Don’t drop your standards to accomodate the nitwits seeking to trivialize your schools accomplishments.
Unfortunately and quite sad , a large majority of the Islands population do not know , ther are are huge responsibilities attached to having babies.
do not be deterred, thanks for doing an excellent job!
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