Poll Tells Random School Charges in GuangzhouA recent poll reveals that nearly fifty percent of parents hold that school fees have been collected at random in Guangzhou schools.Of respondents polled, nearly ten percent said school fees arbitrarily charged are "very serious" and "quite serious" by a 40 percent. That is to say, almost half the number of parents voiced their dissatisfaction over school fee collection. According to the respondents, more than twenty kinds of arbitrary charges were listed including those on school uniform, meals, newspaper and magazines, fees for construction and maintenance of school buildings, and other supportive extra charges. From a small thing you can see the problem, some parents said. For example, a couple of schools have made a rule that exercise books must be bought at school instead of by pupils or parents on their own. A fact apparently not to be told is that exercise books have to be bought at school at a higher price than market retail sales. Meanwhile, there is also another 70 percent of parents disgruntled with such charges as of "school support fees" or "contributions for making a choice of school" by students, the number of respondents showing an increase of about 40 percent over 1998. But gaps are found between different schools in economic strength. For some financial support is needed and for their upkeep "school support fees", "contributions" for students' school choice and the like irrational charges can still be collected for the time, some parents responded. They suggest that these should better be all open and above board in the way orderly teaching and schooling are guaranteed. |
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