by Angeline Loh
Aliran Monthly Vol 24 (2004): Issue 11/12

	Parents nowadays dread school or the thought of having their clutch of youngsters trooping down that road, especially when they are financially unprepared for it. Angeline Loh

Things during my school days were very different from those that kids and parents now experience. The school scene parents now face is a far cry from that which my parents encountered. Parents nowadays dread school or the thought of having their clutch of youngsters trooping down that road, especially when they are financially unprepared for it. The investment is uncertain although compulsory, and the capital layout is enormous by low and lower middle-income standards.

Think about it. First, you have to kit your kid out in a school uniform, socks, shoes and bag, as basic starters. Then, you have to get pencil-box, stationery, textbooks, exercise books, work books, and other required books. Then there are school fees, special fees, PTA contributions, insurance (‘takaful’ insurance) and ‘wakaf’ contributions in some schools and bits and pieces like school badges, name tags and miscellaneous items to pay for.

Some schools ask for contributions for their cooperative even before your 6- or 7-year old puts a toe inside the gate. When the initial downpayment is made for all these, only then can your lively, ignorant, lovable little child begin his or her laborious journey into education.

Once you’ve said ‘good-bye’ at the school gate and watched the little apple of your eye disappear amongst his and her peers, doubt begins to set in. Can the investment be sustained? Will it turn out all right? Well, you rationalize it by saying, “It’s for his or her good. All children must go to school” or “Hopefully, this will turn out well and they’ll have a much brighter future than we had. They’ll be able to move up in society. Earn more and live comfortably.” OK, but what looms in the immediate future? Tuition and tuition fees? What else?

First downpayment

I had an interesting conversation with a sprightly young mother of two school-going children - the elder boy going to secondary school next year and the younger girl to Standard Five. They attended a school in the USJ area of Subang Jaya in Selangor. This mother, a professional homemaker, gave me some eye-opening facts and figures. She said that one had to have a layout of about RM110-115 to start off in Standard One. This was only for books and fees and other payments required by the school including ‘wakaf’ contribution, which was imposed on all beginners in the school in Subang Jaya whether they were Muslims or not, and ‘takaful’ insurance, which parents were obliged to take out for their children from Standards One to Six. The RM1.50 insurance premium was a yearly charge. RM1.00 for ‘wakaf’ was collectable only in Standard One from non-Muslim beginners.*

An explanation for non-Muslim parents: ‘wakaf’ in Islam is a donation made for religious or public purpose (according to the Malay-English, English-Malay Dictionary by Yang Kassim published by Minerva Publications,2002 Edition).

‘Takaful’ insurance is an Islamic insurance scheme that the powers-that-be deem fit to put into practice.

There are two ‘takaful’ insurance companies in this country: Takaful Malaysia, which was the first ever to be set up in the country, and Takaful Nasional, which ‘offers children education cover’. Takaful Nasional is the more widely known of the two.*

From Standards Two to Six, the budget for books alone is about RM150 excluding the cost of miscellaneous stationery, which includes mathematical instruments, musical instruments or art material. These miscellaneous but compulsory bits and bobs could make you at least RM50 poorer. At least!

As the years in Primary school go by, additional dictionaries, reference books and work books - which the school requires but does not provide - have to be acquired on your own account. Books are expensive. Even locally produced books are costly. We’ve merely covered books and stationery so far without making a squeak about other notes or papers the school may hand out. In addition, consider exam fees, Physical Education kits or requirements for extra curricular activities such as joining a uniformed unit like the Scouts, the Cubs, the Red Crescent and whatever else is available to catch the interest of our little ones. As uniforms have come up in the conversation, let us look at them.

Uniform costs

Remember that your kid is a kid and s/he does as kids do: play rough-and-tumble games, get into mini-wrestling matches, get smeared with mud, food, paint or something unmentionable. Kids’ apparel has got to be really tough and last as long as possible so your resources are not drained at a faster rate than your pocket can cope. Moreover, kids grow too big for their clothes and shoes by the month or, if you’re ‘lucky’, by the year.

My friend, the young Mum, from her vast experience of looking to the needs of her junior scholars, puts the price of a decent quality, fairly hardwearing primary school uniform at RM55 at least: RM35 for a pair of boys’ trousers and RM20 per shirt. This cost is usually multiplied by three as there must be a change of clothes available and one emergency set of clothes in case of unavoidable accidents. Thus, RM55 x 3 sets = RM165 per child. Girls’ pinafore uniforms could range from RM36-42 depending on size as well as quality. Multiply this sum by three as well, per child. This would be RM108-126 for another child. All in all you’d have to come up with about RM273-300 for uniforms only.

The cheaper the uniform, the lower the quality, and the less durable and comfortable it is for the child who has to be in it at least five hours a day.

Footwear expense

Another tough area. Shoes cost from RM10 upwards depending on quality and durability, which most parents look for. There are, of course, those upper-middle and upper-income parents who place importance on branded goods. That is their choice if they can afford it. Again, my friend, the young mother, takes the sensible option of getting as good quality in shoes as is affordable, paying around RM25 per pair of school shoes that may last at least six months. In her case, shoes for both children may come to RM100 plus per year as she provides both children with two pairs of shoes, taking wear-and-tear into account due to sports and extra curricular activities. She said that the RM10 shoes would not last two months; so ultimately, the accumulated cost over a year of buying cheap shoes could turn out to be more than paying a bit more for reasonable quality shoes that last longer.

Additional kit expense

We must not forget that our children have to be involved in PE and extra curricular activities. More stress put on the pocket to compulsorily kit them out in suitable sports wear. Schools sell T-shirts and track bottoms specially designed with their own logos and colours. This, I was told, now costs RM25 per set in primary school and RM27 per set in secondary school. As for uniforms for uniformed units such as Cadets, Scouts, Girl Guides, Red Crescent, St. John’s Ambulance and school bands, costs can run into more than RM100 per set. We have only groused about clothes so far; what about all those school expeditions to elocution competitions, combined school sports, debating competitions and science expos/exhibitions for which your bright spark may be singled out to represent the school? An expensive honour for you may be required to chip in for travel expenses or meals, to say nothing of accommodation should this event take place outside the homestate.

High school expense (initial downpayment)

Entry to Secondary school is another costly affair. The layout for books alone is about RM290. Fees (all inclusive), estimated at RM129; computer classes for Form One freshies, RM120 for the year. Slap on another RM100 for School Rules booklet, files and 001 Card, and other miscellaneous progress reports which are compulsory for all students to possess on entry to Secondary school and which must be bought from the school co-op shop. Last and certainly not least, you begin again kitting out your now adolescent child for her/his entry into the teenage world of Secondary school. Dig deep into your pocket and come up with another RM121, to start with! So Happy New Year to near bankruptcy! Mind you, this is the cost of attending a normal government school.

The response by most parents to the question, “So how do you cope with all this expense simply to send your child to school?” is probably a humble shrug and plaintive, though fatalistic, “Like that-lah.” I wonder how parents earning RM1,000 or less per month afford to send their children to school despite nominal aid allowed them by the government and the school. Text book aid doesn’t go that far as a child still has to be clothed, fed, and transported with all other needs seen to.

Additional private tuition expense

Due to the keen academic competition nowadays, egged on by the Education Ministry, which has ambitious plans for Smart schools, average- and low-income parents find themselves forced to make theirs and their children’s lives more miserable by sending them to tuition classes for various subjects (even for Art). The cheapest tuition fees per subject can be as much as RM30, going up into the hundreds, depending on whether a standard or deluxe tuition package is opted for, as my friend, the young Mum, says.

New parents, be warned of the impending tidal wave of expenses when you have to send your beloved off-spring to discover the mysteries of education at the tender age of six to seven plus years. When they ultimately sail away, we hope they will spare you a thought and understand better the burdens you had to bear just to make their lives better.

Food expense

Food seems to figure at the low end of the priority scale in school. There is much complaint from parents that food sold in school canteens is expensive and of low nutritional quality. For example, another mother whose two boys go to Primary school in Butterworth, Penang, said that a small packet of ‘nasi lemak’ ranged from 60 sen to RM1.00. Even at RM1.00, all that you get is an inch of chicken, half a piece of cucumber and a load of ‘sambal’ to colour the ‘nasi’ red. You’d be lucky if the chicken had any substantial flesh on it. So what would you get for 60 sen? Probably not ‘ikan bilis’ or any cucumber. A number of innovative parents have resorted to providing their off spring with nutritious homemade food in lunch boxes to get round the problem of expensive, less nutritious food.

Moreover, parents are also concerned about food hygiene in school canteens. Keep in mind, these are children we’re talking about now, and they are susceptible to all sorts of ‘bugs’.

For growing children, particularly boys, the lunch box sometimes proves insufficient. So parents dole out an extra 50sen – RM2.00 per day to feed them at school. What would the expense be in a month? An estimate of RM15.50 – RM62.00.

Parents who cannot afford children’s ‘pocket money’ would probably have to pack a bigger sandwich box or their children will have to be content with what they have till they get home for lunch or dinner. Some parents take the trouble to bring freshly prepared food for their kids during recess time. During the puasa (fasting) month, no food is available in the canteen. So, what are non-Muslim children to do? The other young mum from Butterworth, was exasperated by the fact that at puasa time, many non-Muslim primary school children were seen to go outside the school compound to buy food across a busy road. Hawkers’ food is more expensive than food sold in the school canteen. She even cited a case when a child was knocked down by a car when trying to get to the food stalls.

Transport expense

Parents agonize over the safest means of transporting their children to and from school. With the occurrence of so much crime against children nowadays, every caring parent would closely examine all affordable options. Some decide to chauffer their kids themselves, others take the option of sharing drives with friends and neighbours with children in the same school, and some have to depend on bas sekolah (school buses), vans or even ‘private’ car hire.

Bas sekolah expense amount to RM30-60 per month depending on the distance travelled. The disadvantage is that if your child is the first passenger going to morning session school, s/he will have to get up very early and be washed, fed breakfast and dressed ready to board the bus when it is still dark. On the other hand, if the child is the last one to alight after evening session school s/he may arrive home at around 7-8 pm.

For a private van, a negotiated price per child was RM50 per month. Transport for two schoolgoers adds up to RM100 per month to and fro. Private car hire in the Subang Jaya USJ area for travel within 2 km of the school costs RM60-80 one way and RM100 per month, two ways.

The USJ Mum alerted me to a case of unaffordable transport expenses. She knew someone whose child was disabled due to a congenital condition. The child’s mother was told that there was a school for such children in another section of the USJ area. The area of Subang Jaya is so large that travelling from one section to the other can be reasonably far. The child’s father works as a store assistant in a large hyper-market in the area. He walks to work from where he lives. The mother is reluctant to change her child’s school to the one further away as she cannot afford the transport costs to the school catering for disabled children. So this child will lose out in the long run, not because he is unintelligent but simply because his parents cannot afford proper education facilities for their disadvantaged child.

Profit or loss?

Forgive my claim to clairvoyance, but I foresee a future Malaysian society split by the chasm of class division of upper, middle and low economic status. We already struggle to cope with surviving each wave of price increases due to whatever economic tsunami the authorities see fit to stir up. Now, it’s the withdrawal of petrol subsidies and the pending rise in public transport fares and toll charges. With racial and religious polarization, we citizens are also trying our best to be accommodating towards each other to improve integration and create understanding and harmony amongst Malaysians. Do we need more causes of conflict and contention to further divide our society into haves, have-somes and have-nots?

Please support our work by buying a copy of our print publication, Aliran Monthly, from your nearest news-stand. Better still take out a subscription now. If you prefer to read our web-based edition, please support our work and make a donation.

Now e-mail us and tell us what you think. Your comments might be published in the Letters section of our print magazine, Aliran Monthly.