COMMENTS: Computer usage blues in schools

WE are now into the second week of 2008, which is also the second week of the new school year.

Apart from the usual hustle and bustle of getting students to school last week, parents had their share of the first-day blues.

Parents and guardians spent at least a good one hour waiting in line to pay each child’s school fees. While the Education Ministry has assured school fees will be more reasonable this year, at least some RM100 still have to be allocated for each child because other payments for the Parent-Teacher Association, computer lab maintenance and miscellaneous expenditure are included in the sum that have to be paid annually.

For a number of parents, some of the compulsory fees such as payment for computer lab maintenance make no sense.

First of all, the computer-student ratio is still unsatisfactory in most schools, and computer contact hour per student is still low. Many say that for using the computer lab once a week during the computer lab slot, parents should not be charged the fee. An acquaintance of this writer, who is a parent, even alleges that at his kids’ school, children are even charged per entry (à la cybercafe) to use the computers in the school lab. Although it is quite understandable that there are operational cost issues in running computer labs, it is rather inconsiderate to pass the cost to students – even when students are considered “clients” of schools.

One way for schools or the Education Ministry to approach this issue is to look at the agreement made with the suppliers and ensure that the maintenance portion is clearly stated and adhered to. Big corporations also can play their part and include sponsoring such costs as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts rather than doing a one-off donation or campaign.

Computer literacy and Internet navigating skills are crucial. You can see in Google Search how schools around the world are investing in such skills.

PC and Internet penetration is still lacking here, and schools are the one place that kids can access the technology. It is time for all parties to let schools play their role in providing the right education.