Headmasters Go Beserk

Two days ago, I wrote on the issue of corrupt ed headmasters which seems to have dominated the Chinese press over the few days. A certain Mr Ong Koh Hou, chairman of the board of directors of SJK(C) Chin Woo offered a reward of RM500,000 on parties who are able to provide the relevant evidence of headmasters who have profited from sale of products and services to students.

The "rebuttal" from the Federation of Chinese School Headmasters has been fierce and relentless, practically bordering on the absurd. According to Chinese dailies today, the decision by the Federation of Chinese School Headmasters would take effect by the middle of the year and include a stop to sales of non-compulsory material, such as revision books.

Earlier, Chairman of the National Union of Heads of Schools, Mr Kang Siew Koon, said they would take action against those who claimed there were headmasters who could be pocketing as much as RM150 million in commissions from suppliers. Shouldn't they instead "take action" against those headmasters to pockets unethical commissions instead?

I strongly believe that the actions of the Federation is completely unbecoming of educationists and betrays their duty and responsibility to the students they lead.

By threatening to stop sales of non-compulsory items, computer and tuition classes as well as payable extra-curricular activities such as school trips, the headmasters are essentially holding students, parents and the entire Chinese education system to ransom. So there are certain weaknesses in the current school administration system allowing certain headmasters to profit unethically from it. But instead of taking the proper stance of wiping out corruption (or proving the allegations false) to enhance the current system, these idiots decide that its the students that should be punished for such corrupt practices.

And I thought these type of imbecile activities are limited to immature 5 year olds.

A certain computer company dominates the provision of computer classes for many states in Malaysia. The standard rates charged, as mentioned in my earlier post is RM10 per student for 10 months a year. A little bird from the company itself, which employs many former educationists and headmasters, told me that the company basically hands out commissions to these headmasters in envelopes containing wads of cash at the normal rate of RM1 per student per month. The amount actually works out to RM10,000 per annum for a school of 1,000 students.

I am aware of certain headmasters who accepts these contributions and place them in a special fund in the school for the purposes of the students in the school. But there are clearly plenty of headmasters who probably took it all home.

The little bird told me that with the practice having gone unchecked for the past 20 years or so, headmasters have been taking it for granted. That actually means that these "commissions" are treated openly in the schools administrative and accounting books. Hence it may just be this "openness" which the headmasters are now scrambling to sweep under the carpet, preventing them from taking the upright stance of offering their books for inspection.

If there were someone out there who offered RM500,000 for evidence and reports of corrupt policemen or civil service officers, the public will applaud such a measure. Similarly, Mr Ong should be applauded for offering the reward for exposes on corrupt headmasters. Headmasters should not be an exception to the rule, and should not be immune from investigations of malpractice and corruption.

The concern now is MCA politicians are now coming into the fray seeking the respective parties to "settle the issue amicably". I would not be surprised if an "amicable" settlement is found where headmasters will get to carry on their duties as little emperors and the students and parents continue to suffer in silence. I'd love to be proved wrong, but the politicians would seem to be more interested in negotiating "peace" than to stop unethical headmaster practices. The issue is not about "peace", it's about doing the right thing.

I'm totally and absolutely disgusted by the actions of the Federation of Chinese School Headmasters in putting the selfish personal interests first and the students last. Their behaviour reeks of gangsterism - maintain status quo, or we'll withdraw all "protection". They are a disgrace to the education system and do not deserve the recognition as "educationists".