PARENTS with children at certain public-funded schools are paying more for their child’s education, with some schools even asking parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to fund the cost of printing examination papers.

Several parents The Malaysian Insight spoke to put down this problem to insufficient budget from the Education Ministry and other parents unable to pay the annual PTA fee.

According to a poll by the Invoke Centre for Policy Initiatives conducted from June 10 to July 14, spending for schooling has risen over the past year.

The survey found that parents from all three major races – Malay, Chinese and Indian – saying they faced a 10% increase in expenditure.

About 64% of the respondents said they had to fork out more than 10% compared with before. Another 27% found their school expenditure had gone up by 6% to 10% more, while only 19% of parents only felt the increase was between 1% and 5%.

Azman Ahmad, 40, whose children are schooling in a rural part of Sepang, Selangor, said his monthly spending has gone up by about 10% to 20% as the school asked for funds from the PTA without prior notice.

“It does affect our spending. The pocket money for my child, where a packet of nasi lemak costs RM1.50, which is the same as outside the school, to money for photocopying and donations for school activities.

“For instance, the Merdeka Day celebration, which the school had to organise. They did not have enough money because of insufficient budget from the ministry. So, the school asked the PTA for funds,” the father of four told The Malaysian Insight.

Azman, who works as a driver, said his children’s school asked the PTA for money to print examination papers last year, citing insufficient funds.

“This is not new. I also heard the same from the PTAs of other schools in Sepang. There is a school that even had a campaign to collect A4 paper.”

He said most parents from the said school earned less than RM3,000 and received the government’s annual cash handout or 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M).

Schools usually faced funding issues when parents failed to pay the annual PTA fee of RM50 per family, he said.

“Actually, the PTA fee is not mandatory. It is only a donation. However, when there isn’t enough money to run programmes and there is no sponsorship, the school has to find its own funds by approaching people.”

Syaliza Shapiansuri, 37, who sends her eight-year-old to a Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC), pays PTA fees plus other fees of RM500 per semester.

“I am aware that the PTA fees in a Chinese school are higher compared with national schools,” she said, adding that this was her child’s first year in a Chinese-medium school.

Prior to this, her child was at a national school in Kuala Lumpur where PTA fees of RM95 covered payments for school-organised tuition, air-conditioning and the wages of school guards.

“But this current school only organises tuition for those in standard four and six only.”

The RM500 at the Chinese school now only covers amenities, not other activities nor school-based tuition for her child’s lower primary level.

“The teachers don’t ask for additional payments but we have to photocopy things ourselves,” said the homemaker.

Another mother Khoo Li Ying, 44, said she saw an increase of 5% to 10% in her children’s school expenses compared with last year. One of her three children attends a Chinese school.

The increase, however, was at the start of the year, because of computer fees and book purchases. Other than that, she said, there was not much of an increase. More importantly, the school is transparent about how it uses the parents’ money.

“Perhaps we have to pay a bit more but it is all right with me as long as the school shows where the money was spent. It is worth it to create a more conducive environment for the pupils,” she said.

The amount of fees parents pay to a school PTA can vary, depending on the school and its amenities, and Khoo said there were parents who had to fork out additional payments to their children’s schools.

The Invoke poll found that Chinese parents felt the impact most as about 92% send their children to SJKC, which generally have higher PTA fees than national schools. These schools receive smaller allocations from the federal government to cover salary and utilities and thus have to rely more on PTA contributions.

In 2012 and 2013 the Najib administration allocated RM100 million to develop or maintain Chinese schools, but the amount has been reduced to RM50 million since 2014. – September 6, 2017.