BEIJING - The central government has banned schools and kindergartens from charging fees for hiring guards and installing security systems to protect students from violence after several deadly assaults at schools across the country.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner and regulator, issued an urgent notice on Wednesday, urging price supervision authorities to strictly implement regulations relating to educational charges.
Officials at schools and kindergartens should not ask the students or parents of children attending preschools to cover the cost of upgrading the security facilities or hiring more guards, according to the notice.
Schools should not charge for enhanced security and should refund such fees to parents if they've already been charged, it said.
Those who seriously violate this directive will be exposed to the public, and will face severe punishment. The people in charge will be held responsible, according to the NDRC.
The move is seen as a response to the host of recent countrywide news reports disclosing that many schools and kindergartens took advantage of a newly launched campaign to reinforce school security to demand a sum of money from the parents "in order to install an access control system or employ more guards".
The latest report involved a privately-run kindergarten in Chengguan district of Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province. Xingang Huaqiao Kindergarten reportedly asked parents to pay 45 yuan ($6.6) for a three-month security service. A letter sent to parents by the kindergarten explained that its fund, which can be used only for specific items, cannot be used to hire new guards. The letter said that parents need to cover the expense, the Western Economic Daily reported.
After some parents argued whether the charge is reasonable, the head of the kindergarten said the action had been approved by the district's price bureau and then showed the bureau's official warrant.
The city's price bureau later claimed the charge is groundless and the warrant is invalid, the report said.
Some parents in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, said they are being compelled by the schools or kindergartens to pay for the security system.
"If we refuse to dig down, the kindergarten threatens that we will not get the access cards, which will lead to us not being able to enter the gate to meet our children and bring them home," a man surnamed Li, whose daughter is enrolled in a local preschool in downtown Chengdu, told China Daily.
Wu Xiaogang, director of the campus security section of Chengdu education bureau, said that his office has not received any report on this matter, but he pledged to launch an investigation into the parents' allegations.
"We haven't heard any complaints about the extra charges, as the parents said. But the education bureau and the price bureau have jointly issued a circular that banned such action. We will soon look into this matter, and if schools are found to charge unreasonable fees, they will be punished," Wu added.
Five assaults against schoolchildren in the last two months across China have killed 17 and hurt more than 50, prompting tighter security at schools.
China Daily
(China Daily 06/03/2010 page4)