Hoping to eliminate random school fees, Beijing has introduced
an all-in-one payment system.
Random fees have long been a thorn on the side of parents who
sent their sons and daughters back to school Wednesday.
The all-in-one payment, including charges for textbooks,
exercise-books and tuition fees, applies to compulsory education
which covers six years in primary school and three years in junior
middle school, said the Beijing Municipal Commission of
Education.
After a public hearing early last month, the fee for every urban
student was set at between 178 yuan to 335 yuan (US$21.5-40.5) per
semester based on different grades, and the charges for each rural
student range between 138 yuan and 305 yuan (US$16.7-37).
Wang Yan, an official with the education commission, said each
of the three items included in the fixed-fee payment remains at the
same level as last year.
Schools are not allowed to charge students in other
respects.
The all-in-one payment was first adopted in the country's
poverty-stricken rural areas in 2001.
Statistics from the Ministry of Education show that the fixed
payment system has helped reduce the economic burden on rural
families by about 1.7 billion yuan (US$206 million) in the past
three years.
Besides Beijing, other provinces and regions in the country are
required by the ministry to adopt the fixed-payment system this
autumn.
The ultimate goal is to eliminate random charges, and is
certainly good news for millions of students and their families,
said a middle-aged woman, Liu Xiangyun, living in Haidian District
of Beijing.
But there are still things to worry about behind this rosy
picture, said Liu.
"Actually, this single payment cannot be one sum for all."
Having a son studying at a prestigious middle school, Liu said
the expenses of the items included in the fixed-fee payment are
just a very small part of the total educational costs of her
son.
"It is a common thing in Beijing that parents spend tens of
thousands of yuan to send their children to key schools for a
better education. The expensive bill, which is not calculated in
tuition, textbook and exercise book fees, is rooted in the
unbalanced distribution of teaching staff, apparently cannot be
resolved through the simple payment of school fees," said Liu.
Zhang Hong, a representative at the city's public hearing on the
all-in-one payment, said educational authorities should pay more
attention on the extra charges beyond the items listed in the
fixed-amount payment.
"Equipment fees, residence archive fees, newspaper and magazines
fees, additional lessons fees... you name it," said Zhang.
Other parents said they think the fixed-amount charge is
unsuitable in developed cities like Beijing, because it cannot meet
the increasing demand for a better learning environment from
students and their families, and also limits initiatives by schools
to develop extra-curricular activities or quality educational
experiences.
Insiders say that without sufficient funding for schools, the
fixed-fee collection practice alone can hardly curb the problem of
rampant excessive charging of fees nationwide.
Past experiences in many schools, especially those in
poverty-stricken areas, show that government subsidies often fail
to bridge the gap between fees collected and expenses needed. Some
of these schools, as a result, have to collect extra money from
students to keep the school running, say experts.
(China Daily September 2, 2004)