COMMENT | A recent TV news report about a boy at a Chinese primary school in Bandar Utama who was caned for not paying up his parent-teacher association (PIBG) and security fees has opened up a can of worms in the perennial problem of fees collection.

While both Deputy Ministers, P Kalamanathan and Chong Sin Woon had over the last week said that the fees are not compulsory, the letters written by the PIBG often do not carry a statement of disclaimer: “All fees, donations and contributions are not compulsory. Parents can opt not to pay, but any amount is welcome.”

This would ease any form of pressure especially on teachers, parents and in this particular case, the child, who had become the silent victim.

What happened at the Bandar Utama school serves as a good example for all teachers and parents that any form of contributions should not be coerced.

Various Chinese papers and both 8TV and nTV7 flashed the stories. This was highlighted by representative of Persatuan Jaringan Ibubapa Pencinta Pendidikan Bahasa Zhong Hua (Jia Zhong), Edward Neoh.

Pressure to collect

The single mother’s failure to pay the fees has resulted in her child being caned 12 times.

On the same night, I was told that the mother was allegedly persuaded by the headmistress not to expose the incident to the press. The teacher also cried over the phone to the mother claiming that there was a death in the family.

An apology had apparently been tendered by the school, but concerned parents who came to know about the single mother’s plight decided to be the whistleblowers.

In one parent’s opinion, the PIBG fund should be utilised to help such families, but to cane the child for his parent’s failure to pay the fees, is simply uncivilised.

According to my sources with children in the same class, this warning of caning 12 times had been given a week earlier by the teacher concerned.

Some may try to deny it, but the school’s PIBG chairperson, Loh Tian Hong openly admitted it on both 8TV and nTV7. Using a worn out cane, he demonstrated how the caning was done on the boy, albeit gently.

This, coming from a parents’ representative, is unthinkable. No matter how light the caning was, it was damaging enough to the child’s self-esteem, and this is the main concern.

Teachers in schools are under pressure from their superiors to ensure collection is done by a certain deadline and this, too, is during class time.

Similar incidents have also been reported, but often brushed aside by parents, who immediately pay the fees to avoid unnecessary hassles.

A simple calculation shows that by collecting RM60 from each child, the amount totals a whopping RM138,000 from some 2,300 children in both morning and afternoon sessions.

This is why teachers come under unnecessary harassment when they fail to collect every single sen.

It is not that the PIBG has no money. According to a financial statement that I sighted, there was a total of RM703,102.76 as at 31 December 2016.

The bigger issue

The incident at the Bandar Utama school may have irked a lot of parents, but the truth is this appears to be perennially happening in the Chinese schools.

This is largely due to pressure from the principals of the schools to ensure that their collection of fees is 100 percent. When complaints are lodged to the state education department and the district education office, a lack of stern actions taken against the various parties in the schools has also caused some parents to turn to the press.

On learning about the caning incident, one parent, for example, wrote: “We have no problem paying the fees, but it is the manner in which the money was collected using the cane that is unacceptable. The kid ended up as the victim and there is something very serious about the entire school system.”

Free Malaysia Today yesterday reported that parents groups were also against the victimisation of the child over the enforced collection of fees. Parent Action Group for Education (Page) chairperson Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, for example, said parents must learn from this incident that PIBG fees is not compulsory and not everyone can afford to pay.

At the same time, in two separate letters to the editor, I also highlighted the issues faced – one with the board of governors, and the other about financial irregularities in Chinese schools. They were written mainly to educate English-speaking parents with children in Chinese schools, as the same issue crops up again and again in different schools.

Recent comments by Chong is also uncalled when he accused Jia Zhong of bringing the complaints straight to the press.

Neoh immediately retorted that such complaints are only highlighted in the media when there is a lack of action, or sheer inaction, by the Ministry of Education after scores of letters had been written to the ministry.

At the end of the day, if Jia Zhong had not brought up the matter to create public awareness, the child becomes the ultimate victim, Neoh claimed. The incident of the child being caned 12 times may be unfortunate, but this has at least raised greater awareness with parents about their children’s plight in schools.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.