Face Off: Should private schools be required to disclose their finances?
Each week, two readers discuss a hot topic in a parliamentary-style debate that doesn’t necessarily reflect their personal viewpoints.
Should private schools reveal finances? Explore the debate on transparency, trust, and complexity in Hong Kong’s education system. Photo: Shutterstock If you are interested in joining future Face Off debates, fill out this form to submit your application.
For: Claudia Loh, 16, Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School
Hong Kong has close to 100 private schools that cater to children’s needs. Although these schools vary significantly, they share a common issue: high tuition fees.
Currently, private schools are not required to publicly disclose their financial status, as they operate autonomously and are not governed by the government.
However, private schools should be mandated to disclose their financial information for several reasons: transparency, preventing corruption and empowering students and parents to make informed decisions about their schools.
Firstly, when private schools disclose their financial status, it usually involves detailing how they spend the funds received from students and parents. It should be made publicly available on their school website and not hidden. This information should be readily accessible on school websites rather than concealed.
Transparency is important because students have the right to understand how their school invests its resources, and parents deserve to know what their tuition fees are being used for.
Private schools may paint a pretty picture of their financial health to attract more students, but actual numbers provide a clearer picture of what is really happening. With concrete information, parents may choose to enrol their children in other schools.
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In extreme scenarios, financial disclosures can help parents avoid corruption. For example, Han Academy was unable to refund the debentures purchased by parents because it was in debt. Had the school’s financial status been made public, this situation could have been avoided.
Students and parents should be able to participate in decision-making processes related to their schools. If financial records are made public, students can see where the money is being spent.
This encourages a collaborative atmosphere where students can engage with their teachers and principals to express their preferences, such as requesting new equipment for their studies in areas of interest.
In a time when schooling often induces stress – particularly for students in Hong Kong – this transparency can make the school experience more engaging, motivating students to learn essential financial skills.
Against: Chelsea Chen, 16, St Paul’s Co-educational College
As the recent incident of a private school failing to refund a large sum of debenture funds to parents in Hong Kong has come to light, there has been widespread discussion about whether private schools should disclose their financial status.
I oppose this idea for several reasons, including privacy concerns, the complexity of financial disclosure and its poor effectiveness.
Private schools have the right to maintain their privacy. Unlike public schools, private schools do not receive government financial support, allowing their operators the autonomy to manage their school systems. Requiring them to disclose their financial status breaches their decision-making rights and invades their privacy.
A school’s financial status is an integral part of its operations, so private schools should have the authority to decide whether or not to share such confidential details with the public.
Moreover, disclosing financial statuses may be complicated, burdening private schools. The economic structure of a private school could be more complex than a public school, as its source of income and expenditure vary – ranging from tuition fees to donations to grants.
Collecting financial information regarding income, debts, losses and more would thus be more complicated due to such diversity. Private schools may not be willing to make such financial information public.
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Disclosing their financial status could increase the workload of private schools on top of their management of the diverse financial systems.
Some may argue that revealing financial status can help prevent financial mismanagement by holding schools accountable for their financial actions. However, disclosing financial information alone is not enough to prevent fraud or mismanagement.
Private schools should instead foster mutual trust with parents and outline preventive measures to ensure that they feel confident enrolling their children in these institutions.
In conclusion, disclosing the financial status of private schools may invade their privacy, introduce unnecessary complexity, and ultimately prove ineffective.
Governments should carefully consider these concerns before making such a decision.