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■審計署報告指，現時幼稚園平均每年雜費高達3,000元。資料圖片
審計署昨日（4月17日）發表報告揭露，現時幼稚園學生平均每年雜費高達3,000元。學券計劃是15年免費教育的重要過渡，但是部分幼稚園利用計劃中的規管漏洞濫收各種雜費，違反當局規定，加重家長負擔，窒礙學前教育發展。當局應檢討學券計劃規管漏洞，加強罰則，糾正幼稚園濫收費風氣，為推行15年免費教育做好準備。
當局限制幼稚園只可從雜費收取15%利潤，審計署的報告卻發現，家長即使參加學券計劃補貼學費，仍要繳交包括冷氣費、書包及文具費等不同種類的雜費，有幼稚園雜費收入每年更逾百萬元，個別幼稚園雜費收入便相當於學費收入的24%至44%，明顯違規。然而，幼稚園只需在幼稚園概覽中披露學費和午膳費，受訪六成幼稚園便無公開雜費收費，有幼稚園更將雜費收入撥入「其他營運收入」項目，規避利潤上限規管，令當局無從查核。
長遠而言，只有幼稚園納入當局全面資助下落實15年免費教育，才能標本兼治。教育局已於月初成立「免費幼稚園教育委員會」，研究免費幼教的推行工作，當局應進一步了解幼稚園的經營情況，汲取學券計劃推行中的監管經驗，為落實15年免費教育做好準備。
Tighten control over kindergarten charges
The Audit Commission published on 17 April a report which revealed that now the miscellaneous fee for an average kindergarten child can be as high as HKD3,000 per year. The Pre-primary Education Voucher scheme is a crucial transition towards 15 years of free education; however, some kindergartens have taken advantage of the regulatory loopholes in the scheme and excessively charged various kinds of miscellaneous fees. This violates the requirements laid down by the authorities, increases the burden of the parents, and suffocates the development of pre-primary education. To make way for the introduction of 15 years of free education, the authorities should examine the loopholes in the voucher scheme and strengthen punitive measures to rectify the trend of kindergartens charging excessive fees.
The authorities require that kindergartens may collect a profit of only 15% from miscellaneous fees. However, as disclosed by the Audit Commission report, parents who have joined the voucher scheme for school fee subsidy still need to pay various kinds of miscellaneous fees for air conditioning, school bags, stationery and the like. Certain kindergartens recorded an income of over HKD1 million from miscellaneous fees; and some kindergartens had incomes from miscellaneous fees equivalent to 24% to 44% of their incomes from school fees. This is obviously a violation of government requirements. At present, kindergartens need only to list school fees and lunch charges in their kindergarten profiles. Sixty percent of the kindergartens interviewed did not disclose charges for miscellaneous fees. Some kindergartens had even put income from miscellaneous fees under 缹ther operating income* to bypass the profit limit requirement and so had evaded investigation from the authorities.
In the long term, to solve the problem from the root, kindergartens should be fully subsidized by the government and free education should be extended to 15 years to include kindergarten education. The Education Bureau has already set up in early April a 毧ommittee on Free Kindergarten Education* which is to study the implementation of free pre-primary education. The authorities should try to gain a better understanding of the actual operation of kindergartens and learn from the experience of the voucher scheme regulations in order to be adequately prepared for the implementation of the 15-year free education. （節自香港《文匯報》4月18日） ■Translation by Tung-ming [ tungming23@gmail.com ]
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