Ministry of Education Holding back PSLE result slip due to non payment of school fees
I shared a post by Gilbert Goh about a poor student who was not able to get the original PSLE result slip because her parents owed some money to the school. 

I described this practice as "very bad". Here is my post. 

The Ministry of Education gave their reply, as reported here. 

MOE said that the holding back of the result slip has been a long standing practice. Hey, this does not make the practice less distasteful to the affected families and to the general public, OK?

MOE also said that "MOE’s consideration stems from the underlying principle that notwithstanding the fact that the cost of education is almost entirely publicly funded, we should still play our part in paying a small fee, and it is not right to ignore that obligation, however small it is. "

I find this "principle" to be wasteful and counter productive. To collect the small fee, the teachers will have the administrative burden of handling the collection, accounting for it, and chasing the parents for the small sum. And this is finally capped by the holding back of the PSLE result slip, with its unpleasant consequences.

The time of the teachers can be better spent in teaching, rather than trying to uphold this "principle".

MOE said that the school did provide a copy of the result slip,  which the student can use for registration of the secondary school. Is MOE aware that this practice does create uncertainty for the student, who may worry that the copy is not good as the original? Will it cause the student to dislike the parent for not paying the school fees, causing this distress?

I am saddened that a large bureaucracy like MOE would pit itself against the students from poor families in this manner.

MOE also said that the school has a fund to help poor families in meeting the fees. The poor families only need to apply for this assistance. I suppose there will be parents who do not know how to apply for this assistance or feel ashamed to make the application. They may have other reasons. In these cases, it is the children who suffer for the consequence.

MOE also said, "“The authors of the viral posts (meaning Gilbert Goh and me) are trying to call into question the intention and values of MOE". I confess to this effort - I do question the intention and values of MOE in holding back the original result slip. I consider it to be ill-advised.

Tan Kin Lian

Vote - do you agree the the practice of MOE is ill advised?




 

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