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Monday, December 05, 2016

Donations In SJKC

I often hear people complain about donations, sometimes even before the kids have started schooling in SJCK. As a parent who has had two kids in SJKC totalling 8 years, I just want to share this.

First you will need to know this: Quote from Wikipedia
(By degree of government funding, National Schools are government-owned and operated, while National-type Schools are mostly government-aided, though some are government-owned. In government-aided National-type Schools, the government is responsible for funding the school operations, teachers' training and salary, and setting the school curriculum, while the school buildings and assets belong to the local ethnic communities, which elect a board of directors for each school to safeguard the school properties. Between 1995 and 2000, the Seventh Malaysia Plan allocation for primary education development allocated 96.5% to National Schools which had 75% of total enrolment. Chinese National-type Schools (21% enrolment) received 2.4% of the allocation while Tamil National-type Schools (3.6% enrolment) received 1% of the allocation.)

Since SJKC is only partially funded, they have to rely on donations. That is why we often receive donation forms (usually on the first few days of school when paying fees), on PTA or report card days and there may be a couple of fund raising concerts where you are required to pay to watch your children perform.

In our 8 years in SJKC, we have never felt any pressure to donate. Yes, donation forms are given out and teachers may smile politely and request but it is entirely up to us how much we wish to donate or not at all. Usually we do because we want to see improvements in the school where our children are studying.

In the beginning we saw a school with nice facilities, mostly built from donations. There is a nice big hall which can double up as indoor badminton courts, music room, resource room with computers, even a nice auditorium.

At the end of 8 years in the school, due to donations, instead of seeing the school facilities getting run down or looking old, we see improvements instead. Compared to the time when the kids first started schooling, now the school has

  • a new coat of paint and it looks brand new
  • a covered walkway to the car park
  • a cctv at the entrance
  • tv screens at the porch and other places
  • a water filtering system
  • a new road to filter before/after school traffic
  • a running track for sporting activities
There may be some other small improvements which I have not mentioned. These are a few I can clearly see. The school is well kept and maintained. So, before you grumble about donations, do think about this. After all, this is the place your children will be studying for a few years. Don't you want to do your small part to make sure the school is well taken care of for the benefit of your children who will be using the facilities? Our small donation is only a fraction of what we have to pay for private or international school fees. However, in some schools, we actually get really good facilities funded in part by donations. If you open your eyes and look around, you will be able to see whether your donation has been put to good use.

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