THE Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) is disturbed by additional school fees, which can go beyond RM100, being permitted to be charged at individual schools

It is very well for the education minister to say parents do not have to comply or that they can take their money back.

But in reality, can the minister guarantee the children whose parents have not paid these additional fees will be treated no differently from their more affluent classmates?

Will all pupils be allowed unrestricted access to the school programmes and facilities, without the school head or teachers drawing attention to the fact that the child has not paid the additional fees? Will the child feel humiliated among his fellow students for not going along with the school requirements?

The government should abolish this system of allowing schools or state education authorities to charge additional fees at their own discretion. This system is open to abuse.

The basic school fees could be reinstated as an acceptable contribution.

Thereafter, school heads or state education authorities should not be allowed to load on additional charges.

To curb excess expenses, CAP calls for a review of programmes and items that are being charged to students.

In other departments, as has been noted from the Auditor-General’s Report, there are cases of overspending where no check-and-balance system is in place.

An independent audit panel could look into the expenditure at schools, following which more focus should be placed on cost-cutting measures.

Some items could be provided by schools without charge, such as exam papers and report cards. Items such as dictionaries or atlases could come under the book loan scheme.

School magazines could be simple publications using cheaper paper and printing materials. Name tags, badges, T-shirts and track suits could be from less-costly sources.

The use of activity books should be curtailed. Teachers should revert to using textbooks for teaching, as was the case in earlier years.

The use of computers, especially during the early years, should be reviewed as the charges for this can be the most costly component of additional school fees, while the learning advantages are debatable.

Source: NST – January 9, 2008