School booklist confusion

I WONDER if the Education Ministry has set certain guidelines for schools to adhere to when preparing the school booklist.

This is because the school where my children attend, Sekolah Kebangsaan USJ12 Subang Jaya, has too many optional and unnecessary books on the list.

I am appalled as to how the list was approved by the school board members to be printed for distribution.

The problem is, the list fails to show clearly the compulsory and non-compulsory books leaving some parents to assume the books on the list are part of the school requirement.

The word “PILIHAN” alone on the list is not enough.

The list must stipulate clearly in bold, if necessary, between compulsory and non-compulsory books.

When purchasing books, I dare say most parents will not argue or question the seller as the “normal” procedure is to hand the booklist to the seller and he/she will mark the appropriate books to be purchased as “required by the school”.

Even though I questioned the seller, I was made to believe the books marked on the list were “must-haves”.

One will only know the real status of the books once school reopens, as the teachers advise the children on which books to use and which are for home revision.

I compared the booklist with that of other schools and found ‘SK USJ 12’s booklist confusing and misleading. It would have been better had the non-compulsory booklist been printed separately to avoid confusion.

About two weeks ago, I highlighted this to the principal and up till now she has yet to respond.

I’ve returned all the 31 books to the principal and am waiting for a refund.

I paid RM331.65 for both my children’s books of which RM137.95 (31 books) were non-compulsory/optional books.

The books were: Home Tuition two sets (eight books), Homework Kendiri two sets (eight books), Modul Topikal two sets (eight books), KSP Tahun2 Lepas UPSR ‘11(four books), Strategi Penulisan UPSR MSE, Grammar Made Easy and Excel in Grammar.

I dread to think how many parents like me were fooled into thinking some of these books were compulsory to purchase.

And imagine the profit from the sale of these optional books.

The Government tries to help the rakyat by giving RM100 per child to ease the parents’ burden, but unfortunately some irresponsible people are taking advantage of this situation.

I am writing as I feel I’ve been cheated into buying books which are unnecessary and with the hope that the Education Ministry will look into this matter immediately.