Education Minister Carl Bethel's response to reports that children have been denied admission into public schools because they could not pay the registration fee, will unquestionably have the effect of exacerbating the very serious overcrowding problem that exists in government schools in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

The minister, of course, was duty bound to make it absolutely clear - as he did - that refusing "entry to students who are otherwise entitled to register and to attend public schools because their parents of guardians cannot afford to pay registration fees is contrary to the provisions of the law as set forth in the Education Act and must cease forthwith."

But you have got to sympathize with officials at the various schools that engaged in this practice, who were faced with the monumental task of finding space in their schools for the hundreds of children over the limit of the number that their schools could reasonably be expected to accommodate, and still provide students with a decent education.

They may have decided to use every option available to them to keep the population of their schools at a manageable level, and the payment of registration fees just seemed to be one of those options. After all, the registration fee - as far as they were concerned - was not a huge amount of money, and if the parents of these children were interested in them being in school, they would find the money.

What they may not have factored into this line of reasoning, however, is that these are extremely tough economic times in The Bahamas and what they consider to be a 'small amount' is a big item in the budgets of some of these families. To be sure, because of the extent of the country's economic malaise, some families that could have afforded to send their children to private schools can no longer do so, and this too is a contributing factor

to the increasing overcrowding in public schools.

The extent of the problem was put in perspective by Marvin Rolle, principal of St. Georges High in Grand Bahama, in a story published in The Freeport News on Friday, September 12. Rolle noted that St. Georges was built to accommodate 1,000 students, but had enrolled 1,310. What's more, there are 40 students in some classes, with desks and chairs for only 25. Over at Jack Hayward High, which was also built to house 1,000 students, Principal Dr. Paula Mortimer had already enrolled 1,389 students and anticipated that by the time enrollment was completed, the total would have reached 1,400. Class sizes also were similar to those at St. Georges.

Both of these institutions have had serious overcrowding problems for many years, but this year, it was thought that the overcrowding would not be as acute as in the past as a result of the opening of a new junior high adjacent to St. Georges; however, that junior high is now also faced with an overcrowding problem, after having enrolled the 310 students that were considered to be its quota.

There are no easy answers to this problem, other than the construction of more schools. That's easier said than done. Where will the money come from for such a massive and expensive national undertaking? One way that funds can be raised for the construction of new schools and the ongoing support of education in the country is a national lottery, but the government has been reluctant to pass legislation to introduce a lottery for fear of backlash from sectors of the religious community.

What the Minister of Education needs to do is schedule a meeting with the leaders of the Christian Council and ask them to justify their objections to using the proceeds from a lottery to help properly educate the youth of this nation. They should be asked to suggest what they would consider to be a more appropriate or 'less evil' way for raising funds to build more schools, and they should be prepared to help implement whatever plan they suggest.

If they fail to come up with a workable proposal, then the minister should make serious representation to Cabinet colleagues to introduce a lottery to support the country's educational system, and let the religious leaders explain to the public why they are opposed to a revenue-generating venture to build schools to educate Bahamian children.

On its website, the Florida Lottery proudly boasts of having provided $18 billion in funding for education in that state. If a lottery is introduced in The Bahamas by next year, a decade from now, The Bahamas may likewise be able to boast that it has constructed sufficient schools to properly educated the youth of the nation using proceeds from the lottery, and those schools will be truly public schools that are properly funded, negating the

need for students to have to pay an admission fee.