Two Classrooms, 150 Students, No Fees: A St Catherine Church Pays for CSEC Classes From Its Tithes

• Worship and Faith International Fellowship off Old Harbour Road runs free CSEC classes
• Its academy recorded a 79 per cent pass rate in its first year
• Church tithes and offerings pay for the classes, and most teachers volunteer
• The academy is limited to two classrooms but plans partitions to run four classes

While private institutions charge thousands of dollars for CSEC exam preparation, a church in St Catherine offers it free, the Jamaica Observer reported.

Worship and Faith International Fellowship (WAFIF), off Old Harbour Road, has 150 students registered at its WAFIF Academy of Excellence, founded by Bishop Courtney McLean and his wife Nadine. The academy started in 2012 with seven subjects. In its first year, principal Stacy-Ann Gray said, it recorded “a 79 per cent pass rate, which included several distinctions”. Forty of the current students would sit exams that year.

The classes are paid for from church tithes and offerings. “Most of our teachers are volunteers,” Gray said; the academy pays only one teacher. Many students are not church members. They range in age from 17 to 40, some travel from Kingston for evening classes from 5:30pm, and many dropped out of high school years earlier. The academy also holds motivational sessions and took students to the UWI career expo.

Space is the constraint. “Currently we are a bit limited by space, because it is just two classes,” Gray said, adding that classroom partitions were scheduled to allow four evening classes by September. Future plans include skills training in computer studies, early childhood education, practical nursing and administrative services, pending coordination with HEART Trust/NTA and improvements to the facilities.

The academy shows a congregation using its building and its offerings to run a school. It has already reached the limit of two rooms, and growth depends on partitions, more classrooms and the facilities HEART Trust would require for skills training. For a church, that means planning its building with community use in mind, not just Sunday services. For people in the Old Harbour Road area, a free evening school on their doorstep adds value to the community.

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