Parking charges for teachers: Economically wise but politically insensible?

BY SEAN LIM

So, it seems that there is a big hooha online over charging teachers for parking, eh? 

First of all, from a journalistic point of view, I'm impressed by the bravery of the teachers who decided to leak this controversial report to the press way before the embargoed timing of 2pm, from what I understand. After all, teachers are not allowed to speak to the press. Correct me if I am wrong, but TODAY was the newspaper which first broke the story. 

Kudos to the teachers - I guess they had enough. And I can see why. Teachers I know, like Ms C, who PM-ed me over this, and Ms A who gave me a 'like' for my comment on TODAY. 

I went to poll 16 people and nearly nine in 10 felt it was an unjustified move by the G.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) must be mad that this story got leaked before its intended timing, but they have to suck it up. This is what happens when you decided to piss the very people who put in so much love and dedication for our children.

MOE is implementing such parking charges for teachers, in line with the Public Service Division’s “clean wage” policy, and ensure all salaries are accounted for with no hidden benefits. This seems fair especially when other workers – be in in the public service or private sector – have to pay for parking at their respective workplaces.

Like a certain Mrs C whom I spoke to said, “Every profession is equally important, what makes us teachers any different?”

In order to eliminate hidden subsidies, charging teachers for parking appears to be an economically sound decision, but I wonder if it is a politically sensible thing to do. 

According to the report by The Straits Times, MOE engaged a professional valuer over parking charges, but I am not sure if teachers were consulted over this new move, which is completely fair and logical, or was it a top-down imposition by MOE?

It is preposterous for the views of teachers to be suppressed - not allowed to speak to the media nor being consulted over decisions like this. Teachers are dignified humans who have feelings too, not slaves. They are civil servants but not to be taken as "servants" literally. They are not non-living things that you can kick around like a ball. The least they could do is to give an avenue for them to voice out concerns and be consulted on, instead of being thrown a curveball on a blue Monday. I do have a faint hope they were consulted on, even though there was no evidence of it from the newspapers.

Let's not wait till teachers take it to the streets like in UK - that would be embarrassing for the G.

The G has to be wary that, in their intention to charge teachers for parking in the name of “clean wage” policy, they do not step on their own foot. 

Why so, you may ask.

Well, this issue may actually lead to a slippery slope. If the G indeed wants to charge teachers for parking for economic transparency, then so be it, but...

What about the unaccounted overtime hours teachers put in to grade assignments? Most teachers I know burn weekends marking homework. This is worsened when crunch time comes during the post-exam period. In the short stint I had at CCHY in May last year, it was crazy for me to go through 40 over quadratic graphs for 4G'17 because decision was made to review the question again, in the E-math mid-year exams. 

And this is only grading of assignments. What about the tons of admin work and lesson plans they have to do? Oh gosh...I shudder to think of that.

What about the extra weekends they return to school to help students? Mr Lee KC would have a 14th month bonus if overtime is accounted for, considering the extra hours he always puts in to come back on Saturdays to give us supplementary Physics lessons.

Let's not even start to mention the Saturday morning consultations at Burger King/Wendy's by Ms Lin or Mr Goh CP. They could have slept in on a nice weekend morning, but they chose to go the extra mile for their students. We used to blame Mr Goh jokingly for causing BK to shut down because of his consultations there.

What about the unaccounted cost from classroom decorations (e.g. Ms Wong who spent a hand and a leg for 4E'11 to win the CNY decoration contest), and purchasing children’s day gifts for students because they want the best for them (e.g. Mr Tay and his lucky draws with game consoles as top prize). This reminds me of the bowls of chicken soups I have drank, thanks to Mrs Choo who cooked it for the class to motivate us for our Os? The ingredients do not come free, you know?

What about my lower secondary teachers like Mr Yip and Mr Neo who treated us to pizza at the end of the year, to reward us for a good year together? Pizza Hut did not sponsor those pizza, you know?

How about their unaccounted petrol cost when some teachers fetch students home under unforeseen circumstances? I know of Mrs Cheok who would fetch kids home in the unfortunate event they miss their school bus.

My point is, if MOE genuinely wants wages to be crystal clear, then these unaccounted expenses have to be considered and allow teachers to claim it back. Otherwise, review this new policy once more and see if it is really worth it.

Teachers are the bedrock of our society which “mould the future of our nation”, as the tagline of MOE goes. In the grand scheme of things, such small perks is inconsequential as compared to their dedication and selflessness to generations of children.

Eliminating these perks may be economically sensible, but I am not too sure if it is politically so. If the government decides this is a right move, then so be it. But it has to bear the potential political cost that may come with it.

The Auditor-General Office’s role is to highlight discrepancies with accounts and suggest recommendations, with an economic perspective. Onus is on the government to consider more than just the economic side of things, and look at suggestions holistically before adopting any of them. Not everything can be measured in dollars and cents. 

I hope MOE reconsiders this move. After all, it is always useful to hear feedback at this point of time, instead of via the ballot box. If the G has to wait for the ballot box to listen, then I guess it would be a terribly painful experience for them.

2011 has shown that listening to feedback only via the ballot box is not a very wise thing to do. If the G has to wait till then, it may be too late. 

Probably it is time for teachers to speak up, just like what MP Louis Ng said.

Arrghh...so upset over this. Time for me to write another forum letter to the newspaper. Hmph.