CHSE seeks contribution from parents to develop computer lab

Centre for Higher Secondary Education (CHSE), the only government school for advanced level education in Malé the capital city, has started collecting money from parents in order to buy new computers for the school computer lab and to develop a multi-media system.

Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the school decided to conduct a fund-raiser program due to shortage of funds in the school budget for the year.

Saudullah Hilmy, Vice President of the PTA said today that representatives in the Association consulted among themselves and decided to take MRF400 from all newly enrolled students this year, and MRF150 from each student in the out-going batch. A letter had been sent to each parent, said Saudullah, requesting for the contribution within a period of 3 months.

According to information communicated to Sun, some parents have expressed their disappointment at the decision of PTA. One parent, on condition of anonymity, said that it was too huge a burden for parents who were not well-off. He also stated that the upcoming Ramadan would make the burden even heavier.

“This is too much. Ramadan is ahead, and how can each student pay this money? These are government schools, and why can’t the government provide budget for such expenses?”, the parent asked.

When asked about the complaints by some parents, PTA Vice President said that it was not compulsory to make the contribution.

“We are not forcing anyone to put in money to the fund. This is a decision taken by the PTA, which includes parents”, he said.

Aishath Safoora, CHSE Principal, also stressed that contributing to the fund was not compulsory. “It is perfectly the choice of parents, we are not making it compulsory to donate, and we can accept any amount, even MRF50 would be fine”, she said.

Safoora said that CHSE computer lab is in a very bad condition, and that there were not nearly enough computers for student use. She also said that the management was planning computer courses, for which the lab needed to be developed.