School means study, not sales quotas
Our children should not be forced to raise funds for their schools

TODAY, 18 February 2004
By Suresh Mark Kumar

A revenue target is set; new products are manufactured and management sets a target for the sales force. Did you fail to sell your quota by the dateline? You get singled out, receive a stern warning and are cautioned not to return until everything is sold.

Sounds like a commercial company? Actually, this is a process that goes on in some schools in Singapore, intent on raising money for a variety of purposes.

A case in point: The Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus-Toa Payoh (CHIJ-TP), which has been raising money for its new building. Last year, the school
unveiled a new range of products: Calendars and multi-purpose cards.

The management (principal and teachers) told its young sales force (students) to "sell everything (and) bring back $48".

When the deadline expired, there were some students who did not meet their target. But some teachers were having none of that. These students were told to go out and keep selling.

So the weary young "executives" laboured on, selling as best as they could. Finally, last week, the teachers relented and took back some unsold merchandise.

But in the process, some unhappiness was created in the workforce.

"I used my pocket money to pay (for part of the amount)," said 14-year-old Tina (not her real name), who got the rest of the money with the help of her family. "I had no choice. The first time I didn't finish selling, my teacher was so fierce!"

Her schoolmate, Andrea, (not her real name) also had to raid her piggy bank. Still, it was not enough to buy all the calendars and cards given to her.

Said the teenager: "Teachers are always unhappy when we don't sell. Even when my teacher took back some of the cards, she seemed very angry that we had not sold everything."

Are our children's arms being twisted in schools? No, argued the school's headmistress. "We expect that students put in effort," said Ms Theodora Tan, the CHIJ-TP principal, who revealed that some 200 unsold products were taken back eventually.

But she did add that when the teachers addressed a few students who were not putting in effort, "the message might have been misinterpreted" by the rest.

To be fair to the school, CHIJ-TP is not the only educational institution in Singapore asking its students to help raise funds for various projects.

That begs the question: Should children be burdened with such tasks?

As clichéd as this may sound, aren't children going to school to learn and not to work? Further, look at the damage being done. If the children don't meet their "sales targets", they are accused of being lazy.

If they grumble, they are chastised for not displaying the "school spirit".

If they use their own pocket money, they are poorer for the experience.

There is also the question of imparting the wrong values. If the teachers smile at those who can raise money and frown on those who can't, we are teaching the youngsters that to be "good", they have to bring in the cash.

These materialistic values could be why so many grow up to adopt the five Cs as their Singapore dream.

Also, the schools should realise (if they do not already), that the real people being taxed are the parents.

The parent of a student, Mrs Tan (who declined to be identified further), who paid for her child's unsold portion, felt the pinch. "They (CHIJ-TP) probably imposed it because some students can't be bothered. But it's not fair to all kids and even to us. Not all parents can afford it. Maybe we can buy one, but not all. Certainly not all the time," she said.

Added Tina's aunt, Mrs Ng (who also declined to be identified further): "When my kids were in primary school, I kept getting so many of these donation draw tickets. But I cannot confront the school, because my children are afraid they will get into trouble later.

"But I wish the Ministry of Education would do something about this. Why are they so silent even though so many parents have been complaining to the press over the years?"

Maybe it is high time we have some rules that mitigate some of these pressures that our children face.

Going to school should first be about studying. For our children, there is plenty of time to find work in commercial companies after they graduate.

It is then that they should start worrying about "meeting quotas" and bringing home the money.

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thing is, students get sick of fundraising, imagine having being involved in fundraising from primary school even until seconday school. you begin to feel apathetic after a while, and this is inevitable (around 90% of the students in chij sec tp come from the affiliated primary school). obviously there has to be something to 'push' students to fund raise. perhaps the teachers might be overly excited (knowing some of them are really loyal ij girls true and true) in pushing their girls, the underlying factor is that they want the best for the school, look at the big picture, it would mean many more years of holistic convent education for many more girls, the long school history of 150 years doesn't count for nothing.

as for the donation draw tickets, come on! every catholic school gets it - the annual catholic welfare services draw tickets and sometimes the sana tickets. i suppose we're really lacking in our philathrophy. so what has it got to do with fund raising?

i just feel so unjust for ij, and other schools which are in need of funds. it's like, they are government aided, they have to fork out the remaining 5 or 10% of the building cost (which come to a few millions), furthermore if the school intends to build none-standard facilities (like an auditorium) for the benefit of its students, it has to fork out the entire cost itself. so how are we supposed to get these funds? from the alumni? it isn't as though the alumni is a gold mine and we sure can't advertise on tv or have charity shows like nkf or ren ci.

i've been involved in these fun raising activities and i was quite lazy to sell all those items, thing is i didn't see what all these fund raisers was for? i didn't see the aforementioned 'big picture', and the greater good. and certainly, although i did feel as though i was 'coerced' to fund raise, it made me feel part of the ij family, doing my little bit. most ij girls have the ability to sell the fund raising things, my sis for example hardly faced any obstacles in selling her calenders and cards, it is this majority that the teachers are pushing at, those that have the ability to sell but are somehow not really bothered to. if that student (tina) really couldn't sell the calenders and cards due to her family financial status, i'm very sure the teachers will not force her if she cared to explain to them.

lastly, if the author of the above article can state a better and realistic method to raise funds, do make suggestions instead of just 'shooting' the schools for their fund raising methods.

and until then... i can only feel the seismic waves of injustice the article has created. in my opinion, the author shouldn't even have written that article. empty words without any viable suggestions. it isn't even constructive criticism to begin with, it's utter crap, writing for the sake of getting an article published.

anyway, i've got a solution, if the students of the school think that fund raising is too much to bear, why don't they choose another school? surely, they entered the secondary school knowing they will be involved in these fund raising activities. now my question is: why choose it?