The poor regulation of national-type Chinese schools by the Ministry of Education is what causes a lot of issues regarding financial scandals of both the Board of Governors (BOG), and Parent-Teacher Associations (PIBG).

Because generally Chinese parents are willing to donate a lot of their hard-earned income towards the education of their next generation, huge sums of money can be accumulated.

This is where the problem lies. The PIBG fund becomes an easy target for the opportunists. At every opportunity that they can dip into the coffers, they have no hesitation to do it.

Some real issues

The BOG is supposed to show leadership by exercising good governance, but instead, in some national-type Chinese schools, they are the real problem.

This is where the controversy sometimes arises, between the BOG, the PIBG and the school principal. The lack of management control by a regulatory body (in this case, the Ministry of Education) can cause some hot issues to sometimes erupt.

Traditionally, the BOG has always been the patrons of the schools; there is therefore, a sense of power over the school, the principal and the PIBG. Some of them have forgotten that respect has to be mutual.

What makes the matter worse is, unlike those days when Chinese businessmen gave generously back to society, some boards have a different objective altogether.

Borrowing the words from Edward Neoh, in his capacity as the advisor to Persatuan Jaringan Ibu Bapa Pencinta Pendidikan Bahasa Zhong Hua, otherwise known as Jiazhong, “BOGs in Chinese schools should stop treating the PIBG as an ATM machine”.

The role of the BOGs is voluntary and they exist to help the national-type Chinese schools to raise funds within their own network of businessmen, instead of using the PIBG to raise funds amongst the parents. For this reason, parents should stop supporting such fundraising projects where the money is channelled to the BOGs.

There are too many scandals that have gone unnoticed by ministry officials who are supposed to be supervising these schools.

In a number of cases, BOGs are not registered bodies either with the Registrar of Societies, Registrar of Companies or even the Ministry of Education.

Only individuals are allowed to apply for a permit from the ministry to serve as members of the board. According to Neoh, sadly most BOG members in national-type Chinese schools are not even registered with the ministry!

Interference

Besides the financial issues, board members are also sometimes disruptive to the school administration. There have been cases of interference by some board members, sometimes causing strain between parents, teachers, PIBG and the BOG.

The BOGs should not forget that most national-type Chinese schools under their care are “huaxiao” or SJK (C) which comes under the purview of the ministry. They should not act as though they own the schools, and or try to control the principal or PIBG of the school.

While the ministry recognises the PIBG, the BOG exists only at the goodwill of the ministry. In fact, their role becomes redundant if they choose to act beyond their scope of service.

Ministry officials have the duty to carry out a thorough investigation if there is abuse of power and money at all three levels – the BOG, the PIBG and the school.

You can download a booklet on corruption in national-type Chinese primary schools published by Persatuan Jaringan Ibu Bapa Pencinta Pendidikan Bahasa Zhong Hua here.

(தேசிய மாதிரி தமிழ்ப்பள்ளியின் முத்தரப்பும் எப்படி?)

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