Wrong To Ask Students To Collect Donations
The school authorities cannot force students to collect donations from the public to fund their extra-curricular activities, Education Ministry Parliamentary Secretary P. Komala said Tuesday.
"We feel that parents should be doing such donation drive and not the students. This is clearly stated in the ministry's guidelines (or circulars) on public donation for schools," she told the Dewan Rakyat. Komala explained that the school authorities must also get a police permit and written permission from the State Education Director before they could embark on a public donation campaign.
"Schools must also take precautionary steps to ensure the safety of the students when collecting donations from the public," she said, adding that students must wear the school uniform when carrying out such task.
To another question, Komala said the ministry would spend RM174.34 million to build Chinese primary schools and RM68.84 million to build Tamil primary schools under the 9th Malaysia Plan.
**** So the government has spoken and that too in Parliament. Its not that simple for the school to order your school-going children to abandon their studies and go begging for money. The next time your friendly school authorities hatch an excellent money-making scheme and select your child to 'volunteer', ask them for a copy of the written permission from the education department as well as the police permit. Chances are they won't have it.
While it is a useful and even humbling experience for children to take part in donation drives, it should not be at the expense of their studies, or worse, their personal safety. Schools tend to increase the rate of such drives if the previous ones were very successful. It is up to the parents to keep the schools under a tight leash, lest the the more enterprising ones dream up more and more novel money-making schemes.
"We feel that parents should be doing such donation drive and not the students. This is clearly stated in the ministry's guidelines (or circulars) on public donation for schools," she told the Dewan Rakyat. Komala explained that the school authorities must also get a police permit and written permission from the State Education Director before they could embark on a public donation campaign.
"Schools must also take precautionary steps to ensure the safety of the students when collecting donations from the public," she said, adding that students must wear the school uniform when carrying out such task.
To another question, Komala said the ministry would spend RM174.34 million to build Chinese primary schools and RM68.84 million to build Tamil primary schools under the 9th Malaysia Plan.
**** So the government has spoken and that too in Parliament. Its not that simple for the school to order your school-going children to abandon their studies and go begging for money. The next time your friendly school authorities hatch an excellent money-making scheme and select your child to 'volunteer', ask them for a copy of the written permission from the education department as well as the police permit. Chances are they won't have it.
While it is a useful and even humbling experience for children to take part in donation drives, it should not be at the expense of their studies, or worse, their personal safety. Schools tend to increase the rate of such drives if the previous ones were very successful. It is up to the parents to keep the schools under a tight leash, lest the the more enterprising ones dream up more and more novel money-making schemes.
posted by The Malaysian. at 7/11/2006 05:30:00 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Blogger, I found your blog quite informative.
I just came across your blog and wanted to
drop you a note telling you how impressed I was with it.
I give you my best wishes for your future endeavors.
If you have a moment, please visit my atlanta alternative to bankruptcy site.
Have a great week!
My kid's school forces parents to donate by pressuring the children. I know this is illegal but what to do? If not my kid pula kena in school. So I shut up and pay what I can.
My question is does Komala believe in what she is saying in parliament, or is she just parroting answers prepared by the civil servants in the ministry. If a school despite the guidelines by her Ministry, collect donations using students, what action will she take against the deliquent school.After all why should any school collect donations, when it is the policy of the govt. to spend away billions on dubious projects! The school should just collect from the govt!
Post a Comment
<< Home