Joint Statement Released by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong

November 5, 2020

Government to Proactively support Chinese Education Urged

Appropriation to Cover All Types of Appropriation for SMJK (Chinese) Expected

In response to the newly released Budget 2021, Dong Zong and Jiao Zong herewith forward their joint statement proper as follows:

• We believe the Budget proposed by the government closely correlates with national development and thus it involves the interests of all types and streams of schools, as well as the entire student population in the country.

In this vein, the government needs to proactively support Chinese education by assuring fair distribution of educational resources. Further, attributed to the current Covid-19 impact, online teaching has become the new norm for all schools. As such, the government needs to enforce online teaching models and optimise learning materials and school facilities, including tax cut or exemption to encourage the purchase of online teaching hardware and subscription of internet service as well as reviewing the charge and service of internet providers.

All Types of Appropriation for SMJK (Chinese)

• We strongly posit, the appropriation for SMJK (Chinese) should include all types of appropriation and the government should not illicitly and wrongly divide SMJK (Chinese) into Fully Subsidised and Half Subsidised, or only allocates promotion and maintenance appropriation to Half Subsidised schools and not Fully Subsidised schools. As informed by the Education Act 1996, all vernacular Chinese primary schools enjoy the right to receive appropriation of all types (Administration and Development) from the government. That said, the government should not exploit their right to receive appropriations.
• We expect the appropriation allocated to all vernacular Chinese primary schools to include all administration and development appropriations, including the salaries and allowances of temporary and relief teachers, water and electric, waste discharge bills and internet service as well as appropriation for promotion and maintenance like school construction and relocation, school expansion and reconstruction, furniture or facilities (such as tables, chairs, cabinets, fans, air-conditioners, wire and installment of lamps, etc.). Therefore, the government needs to allocate sufficient appropriation for the abovementioned use and not an annual RM50 million for some vernacular Chinese primary schools only. As understood, the construction and relocation of many vernacular Chinese primary schools are still ongoing and they urgently need appropriation to complete the work for their impending school opening. The Education Act 1996 states that the school boards of vernacular Chinese primary schools are the managerial units and they are accountable for the sound management of school finance and funds. As such, the government needs to deposit the appropriation into the school boards’ bank account so that they can make use of the fund for the unfinished constructions and submit progress report to the Ministry of Education duly. This not only assures the sound management and proper use of appropriation but also outstands the transparency of appropriation distribution.

Appropriation for MICSS

• In both Budget 2019 and 2020, MICSSs were allocated an appropriation of 12 million and 15 million respectively. According to a survey embarked by Dong Zong, every independent Chinese secondary school student in the entire year of 2015 needs an average overhead cost and expense of RM4,859. Attributed to this, we urge the government to the least appropriate RM20 million to independent Chinese secondary schools to relieve their financial burden.

Appropriation for National-type Secondary Schools

• The 81 national-type secondary schools in year 2020 received an appropriation of RM20 million for promotion and maintenance purposes. In matter of appropriation, they have been facing unjust treatment in the form of inconsistent appropriation. National-type secondary schools belong to one of the ramifications of national education and thus the government’s previous promise is expected to be honoured, put simply, to be responsible for all the administration and development expenses generated in these schools as well as increasing the total sum of appropriation.

Appropriation for Three Privately-run Tertiary Institutions

• In both Budget 2019 and 2020, New Era University College, Southern University College and Han Chiang University College were allocated an annual appropriation of RM6 million in total, meaning an appropriation of RM2 million for each institution. By the same token, we propose appropriation to be allocated to New Era University College, Southern University College and Han Chiang University College in Budget 2021.

Appropriation for Relief and Temporary Teacher Salaries

• The Ministry of Education had appropriated RM40 million and RM48 million respectively in Budget 2018 and 2019 for the purpose of relief teacher recruitment, only the sum was insufficient to cover the total salaries as it was used up prior to the second half academic year. The shortage of fund made relief teacher recruitment impossible and thus incumbent teachers had to relieve the teaching tasks, or the school boards as well as parent teacher association had to cover the expenses which in actual fact aggravates their financial burden. Since providing sufficient teachers for the schools is the responsibility and obligation of the Ministry of Education, we thus urge earnestly the government to increase appropriation for relief and temporary teachers in Budget 2021 to ensure the smooth flow of teaching needs lest compromising daily teaching and administration. We also believe the government needs to address the long existing teacher shortage problem through the formulation of policy and operation mechanism radically and not to push the schools to rely on relief and temporary teachers, or be caught in the dilemma of insufficient appropriation for teacher recruitment.

Appropriation Increase for Water, Electric and Waste Discharge Bill (Utility Bill)

• In year 2020, the government agreed to pay in accordance with the actual bills of water, electricity and waste discharge not exceeding RM50 million for “Government-funded Schools”. To small-scale schools, the sum is sufficient but not the actual expenses of large-scale schools, in particular schools with a nigh or above thousand population as the expense may be as high as ten thousand or several ten thousand ringgit and thus eventually the school boards were to be responsible for the bills. The Education Act 1996 clearly stated the government should be responsible for all the administration expenses of government-funded schools, including water, electric and waste discharge bills. With this understanding, we urge the government to increase the appropriation on water, electric and waste discharge in the Budget and to directly settle water, electric and waste discharge bills for these schools nationwide.

Tax Exemption for Non-profit NGOs and Education Institutions

• We propose that the government should consider exempting tax on education industry surplus and donations received by non-profit NGOs as well as educational institutions. That said, donors and beneficiaries will be exempted from tax to encourage contributions of non-profit NGOs and education institutions on national education.