Chinese schools told to cease illegal computer, tuition classes

PETALING JAYA: Chinese schools in the Klang Valley which are conducting illegal computer classes have been ordered by the Education Ministry to stop doing so immediately.
Association of Parents' Network for Advocating Chinese Language Education (Jia Zong) adviser Edward Neoh said he had been informed of this by officials in the Selangor education department following its audit on such schools.
A similar directive had also been issued by the Kuala Lumpur education department to Chinese schools in the Federal Territory.
Neoh said many Chinese schools nationwide have been conducting computer literacy classes during school hours and charging students for them.
"The Selangor education department, which completed its audit on June 8, has directed schools which are conducting such illegal classes to discontinue them with immediate effect," he told a press conference yesterday.
"I understand some schools have asked to be given some time to sort things out, and they have been allowed until June 25 when school reopens after the mid-year term holidays," he said, adding that the ministry will check on them again then.
Attempts to contact Education Minister Maszlee Malik for confirmation on the matter were unsuccessful as of press time.
Neoh said the directive was given after two previous reminders by the ministry, on April 17 and May 30, went unheeded by some of the schools.
He said Jia Zong will agree to such computer classes during school hours on the following conditions:
>> the syllabus is approved by the ministry;
>> teachers are trained by the ministry; and
>> classes are free-of-charge.
On a separate matter, Neoh said the ministry has also directed some Chinese schools which are charging fees for tuition classes on other subjects during school hours to stop the practice immediately.
He said Jia Zong had also lodged police reports against a school for criminal breach of trust in regard to questionable fee-collection and also against the headmaster of a school for throwing some students' lunch boxes away.
Neoh had previously said these illegal classes were not only conducted during school hours, but also done by external tutors who are not trained by the ministry, and parents had been forced to pay for computer classes "in the name of a donation".
A document sighted by theSun listing the income and expenditure of a Chinese school in Petaling Jaya, revealed that the school had collected more than RM300,000 from computer classes in 2016 alone.
One parent, who requested anonymity, said parents were given a strict deadline for the payments to be made.
He added that at one of the schools, students were being taught Tux Paint and Microsoft PowerPoint programmes, which would not be useful for primary students.