The random charging of fees in the educational sector tests the authorities' working abilities, according to an article in Southern Daily.

The National Development and Reform Commission publicized the illegal price cases investigated and punished in the first half of the year last Friday. More than 36,000 cases with illegal earnings of 1.227 billion yuan (US$151.5 million) were investigated. Education still ranks at the top of the list of complaints for the sixth consecutive year.

This is a sad fact. The soaring educational expenditures have affected most Chinese families. It has become the issue of most concern for the public. Fairness in education is vital for building a harmonious society. The difficulty and expense of schooling is a social issue that arouses the most intense responses. And random collection of money has deteriorated this phenomenon.

This is also an embarrassing fact. Random charging of fees has existed for several years. The work to harness such illegal activities has long been carried out. There have been documents, circulars and special investigation campaigns one after another, and many who are responsible have been sacked and punished. But obviously the result has not satisfied the public. Many people see the random collection of money in the education sector as a chronic ailment or even an incurable disease.

Such inactive attitudes permeating society are a harmful factor to solving this problem and a harmful factor for the construction of a harmonious society. Educational and price departments as well as local governments should be aware of such inactive attitudes and avoid being infected themselves. In other words, how to solve this issue is a test of the authorities' wisdom, vision and ability.

Frankly speaking, the problems of random collection in the educational arena are fairly exposed. And the prescriptions are easy to find. But the point is that various parties have their own concerns of interest. Their perceptions on the random charge of fees are different. Therefore the work, though implemented every year, cannot achieve the desired results. Related departments only think about their own interest, not the public interest, thus the work cannot be well enforced.

Determination is an important part of solving the problem. An effective mechanism is another. As the existing method is not effective against random charging of fees, restructuring should be considered.

And the disposal of the illegal earnings should be improved. For example, a university was found to illegally charge 176 million yuan (US$21.7 million) but only about 1 million yuan (US$123,460) was returned. Such a result will only encourage schools to charge more.

The new semester is coming soon; let's expect the situation to improve a bit. It will be a marvelous progress if the random charging of fees in the educational department does not rank the first in the list of public complaints next year.

(China Daily August 10, 2006)