I'm pissed off ... really pissed off
Late Sunday night I received an sms from the Pengetua of Aizat's school. The message read "We need to meet (whoever can attend) tomorrow at 7:45am to discuss school fees" After sending Hani to her school I went straight to Sri Permata. The turnout from parents was really good despite the short notice and the first working day of the week. Dato' YDP, NYDP and a few other parents were there. Some teachers were not there as they were invigilating the SPM exams which started on that day.
Mr Ong told us that he received a Pekeliling (that dreaded piece of document that government servants has to treat like the Bible) about the school fees. The gist of the circular are the following:
1. The term "Yuran" will be replaced with "Pakej Bayaran Tambahan"
2. In essence the parents will have to pay more unless you take into account the fact that all students will now receive free text books. However for parents who already received free text books, they will have to pay more. So the poor parents have to pay more now while the rich parents pay less. What the heck?
The Pengetua is also complaining that he has just spent about RM8,000 to turn one empty classroom into a store to keep free textbooks for 1,500 students. Moreover his teachers would now have to keep stock of more than 10,000 books. All these for something that was not even requested by most of the parents. Normally when you do not ask for something you will not be able to value the gift.
Back to the "Yuran" issue. Now that there is no more "Yuran" but "Bayaran tambahan", the politicians can go tell the whole world that in Malaysia education is free. But how can that be so when we still have to pay "Bayaran Tambahan"? The answer is in the next instruction in the Pekeliling. The School must get the consent of the PIBG to collect the "Bayaran Tambahan". In fact the YDP has to sign the Application Form that must be submitted to the Ministry for them to approve the request from the parents that they be allowed to collect the money. See how neat it become? Legally, there is no more school fees. What is being collected from the parents now is money REQUESTED BY THE PARENTS themselves and they have the signed Application Form to prove that. So if the parents have asked for permission to collect the fees how can it be from the government? As far as the government is concerned, all money collected have been consented by the parents since they are the ones asking for it to be approved. The government has in fact been so kind so as to put a ceiling on the amount to be collected. The irony of it all is that the PIBG will not see a single sen of the money to be collected. It will go to 1. Kokurikulum, 2. Kertas Ujian, 3. Sukan Tahunan, 4. Insurans 5. MSSM and 6. Kegiatan Agama/Moral. Even Sumabangan PIBG is not included and we have to make another application for this. If we look at the purpose of the "Bayaran" all must agree that they are for the running of the school activities which is the responsibility of the government.
It is bad enough that we have been asked to pay for it. We know our country is still developing and those who can afford it should contribute towards educating our young. I'm sure a lot of people can live with that but when the government try to hoodwink us into saying that it is giving free education and at the same "tricked" us into paying for it, I'm really pissed off. Please don't take us for fools.
These past few years I've been sacrificing my time, money and efforts to do my bit to society by playing an active role in the PIBGs. And to see all these really make me sick. A government who cheats on its own people surely is not worth supporting. But will I make a difference? Maybe not, but I will sure try.
How can you get so screwed up Hisham? Go to the ground and listen more from people who are sincere in giving opinions not yes men agreeing to whatever you fancy.
..to be continued
3 comments:
I sent this writeup to the star but was not published
Dear Sir
I refer to the article in the paper today under the heading " Guidelines on school charges" . I would like to highlight that during the recent budget speech 2008, in the parliment, the Prime Minister said, I quote " Mr Speaker, The Government has progressively increased the access as well as reduced the cost of education. Last year, t he examination fees for PMR, SPM and STPM were abolished. he only remaining fees are the examination fee for Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia and the annual fee for primary and secondary schools. Effective 2008, all these fees will be abolished. "
The news that there will be no school fees in Malaysia was further strengthen by the Education Minister as part of his campaign strategy to head Unesco . I quote bernama report on Nov 1st, 2007 " Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said today that he was proud to mention that education in Malaysia is free when he spoke at Unesco's 34th general conference in Paris recently."
Surprisingly, the Education Ministry released an official circular SPI 13/2007 dated 30 October 2007 where several key points is worth to be highlighted. Among others
The word "Yuran" has been dropped and is replaced with the word "bayaran tambahan" (Refers to Item 6 of the SPI) (I quot e - " All parents will be required to make payments and not fees for all additional services and facility provided"
Item 10 of the SPI says that the school head can apply to imposed this charges by requesting to the Education Department and to submit their application by 30/september every year.
Item 11 of the SPI says that the Education Department has the rights to approve or to change the package that the school head has decided if they feels that the package requested by the school head is not appropriate to the school environment
Under Item 16 (16.1,16.2 and 16.3), the parents consent must be obtain via the PIBG committee in choosing the package
Let us study SPI 4/1998 which has not been recinded despite the presence of SPI 13/2007. If we were to sit down and make comparison on the "charges' the school has been imposing under SPI 4/1998 and make comparison to the new SPI 13/2007 (for the primary school) , we can conclude the following:
Only the special Fees has been removed i.e. RM 4.50 for primary school and RM 9.00 for secondary schools
They have introduce new package charges under Co Curricular activities which is between RM2.00 to RM 5.00. It is quite obvious that most school will adopt the middle package which is RM 3.00
They also increase the "charges of Kertas Ujian Dalaman" from RM 5.00 to between RM 6 to RM8. Again I believe most schools will go for the middle package which is RM8.00
School sports day which was not charge previously is now being charge between RM6- RM10 which again I believe most schools will charge RM8.00
MSSM Fees is now increased from RM 0.50 to RM 2.00
The other charges remain the same
What can we conclude about the " Free Education announce by the PM and proudly mention at the UN by the Education Minister recently based on the facts that is available us? The following is my analysis
The free school fees is merely an election gimmick. I think it was annouce without a proper studies being done or some genius in the government was actually trying to hoodwink the public
In actual fact the removal of the special school fees of RM 4.50 as indicated by the SPI 13/2007 was infact replace with other charges. Not only it was being replaced but they have smartly replaced the word fees with the word " additional charges".
The new charges is actually RM 6.00 to RM 21.00 extra than what was charge by the government before the abolishment of the word shool fees. For those school that opt for package B, it means that the parents has to pay an additional RM 13.50
What was actually dissolved by the government is not the actual fees but the word fees which is replaced with "bayaran tambahan"
The role of PIBG is actually is a rubber stamping body whose voice and fuctions are being curtailed . What is the point of getting the PIBG approval if the education department has the right to change what was agreed at the school level (Item 11 of the SPI 13/2007). In the first place if the MOE via its circular has decided on the rates and the packages, why is there a need for the PIBG to get involved. It is merely a tactic to show that parents are involved the decision making. I beg to differ, the PIBG was made into a rubber stamp and its role is to endorse what the MOE has decided.
The honorable PM. My faith in you as a honest and good leader is eroding quickly more than ever before. If your intention is to increase the school fees than you should have said so in Parliment in your budget speech. Dont lie to the people in the honorable house. Just because the parliment provides you with immunity from prosecution it does not mean that you can go and lie to the public. If the intention is to increase the school fees, then go ahead and say so. I believe most malaysian are educated enough to understand the need to increase the fees. There is no need to lie and then our Education Minister goes to the UN (Unesco) and make more lies to the world. This is simply embarassing. It reflects poorly of us in the international level.
Pak lah, please do the right thing. Dont preach something else and do something else. As for the parents, I feel sorry for all of us as again our function is being curtailed by the Ministry. Our voice are actually not important at the school level. Maybe there are no school going children in the whole of Education Ministry
Regards and best wishes,
Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan bin Abdul Rahman
MD, MMed(OM),MBA(IT),Dip Ae Med, CTM, AME (17),
No 45, Jalan BU 2/4
Taman Bukit Utama
Bukit Antarabangsa
68000 Ampang
Selangor
Tel: +603 - 21623420
Fax: +603 - 4108 4562
Hph: +6012 200 7176
www.oshcare.com
Thanks for visiting Doc and also for giving a more detailed explanation. You have surely done your home work.
The PIBG YDP and me had a meeting with the Pengetua this morning. We were thinking of not signing the application form but the Pengetua said it will not do much good besides making the students victims. If the YDP do not sign, the MOE will transfer the Principal, dissolve the PIBG and replace them with those who can toe the line. We don't care about the PIBG being dissolve but do not want our children's studies to be adversely affected.
On another note one of our PIBG AJK works in the Star. According to him, the paper is not allowed to print "depressing" news until after the election. So do expect to read the truth.
Saudara husin
Dissolving PIBG. HM Get transfered. This are quite a common threat they use.
From my own assessment, I feel many PIBG exco members do not understand the role of the PIBG and its constitution.
In our school, our GB did not ask us to sign anything.
I suggest you visit our website
www.pibg-my.org
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