"Charging parking fees at schools about 'self-discipline': Ong Ye Kung
SINGAPORE: Charging parking fees at schools is about upholding the value of self-discipline, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has said in a Facebook post in response to Member of Parliament Seah Kian Peng's speech in Parliament on the controversial decision.
"We have to respect our internal system of checks and balances. We cannot pick and choose which finding to address or comply with – we take them all seriously. This is about upholding the value of self-discipline," said Mr Ong in a post on Friday (May 24).
Mr Seah, MP for Marine Parade GRC and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, had said during the debate on the President's Address on May 18 that the decision was an "insult" to teachers who have forked out their own money and time for their students' benefit.
"Not all government policy has a complete recourse to dollars and cents. We need within our current structures to make more room for the lexicon of morality, duty, relationships and trust," he said in the speech which has been shared widely online.
Mr Seah urged the Finance Ministry to recognise the "limits of price, cost and expenditure, as a proxy for value", and asked that it recognises "moral reasoning as a legitimate form of argumentation".
In his post on Friday, Mr Ong said he thanked Mr Seah for his speech and wrote: "I also told him I agreed with him that we should never allow ourselves to see things from a purely economic lens."
However, he said that there are checks and balances within Singapore's governance system, one of which was the Auditor General’s Office (AGO) checks on practices pertaining to the use of public funds.
AGO's 2014/2015 Financial Year report had highlighted that some educational institutions did not charge or undercharged for parking on their campuses. It had called this a "hidden subsidy" which went against government guidelines for public servants.
After a review, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced in March that schools will start charging market rates for parking in August.
"In line with PSD's (Public Service Division) clean wage policy, an appropriate season parking charge in schools will be imposed," MOE had said.
The review and decision sparked much public debate, and many have spoken in support of not charging teachers for parking.
However, Mr Ong said that MOE will stand by its decision as it has a duty to address AGO's findings.
"We have explained to our educators the need to abide by the clean wage policy, and that we cannot be giving a benefit just to one group of teachers who drive. Free parking is also at odds with the rest of the civil service," said Mr Ong.
"In the end, we must recognise that charging for parking stems from our duty to address the AGO’s findings, of abiding by our system of internal self-discipline. Charging for parking, therefore, is primarily a decision borne out of duty."
He added that this did not diminish the appreciation of teachers and educators."
When a GOOD TRADITION is in need of defending, Minister Ong talked abt self-discipline?
I m not sure what is he trying to link?
What is the difficulty of recognising a practice that is well known n well accepted by many over many years due to a restricted overly technical reading of the "rules"?
The Auditor-General office had done a great job pointing out this free parking for teachers in school is an anamoly. At the same time, there is nothing to stop the government n MoE to stipulate in writing in a totally transpatent manner that THIS will b an EXCEPTION!
The theory of other civil servants will cry fouls n scream unfairness is so typical of weak leadership of not making a hard decision!!
R other civil servants teachers? If not, why should they b entitled to free parking in schools?
Self-discipline is: going to schools on holidays, off-duty hours n weekends becoz the kids need help n the schools hv works to be accomplished without grumbling!
It is not to meet blindly a technical interpretation of a rule!!
So, Minister Ong, I disagreed with your reasoning.
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