Chinanews.com client, Beijing, September 17 (Ren Jing) Recently, a committee of middle school students in Shenzhen used to force parents to “crowdfund” to purchase air conditioners designated by the school on the grounds of installing air conditioners in classrooms.

　　For a time, the chaos that occurred in the kindergarten and the committee of primary and secondary school students resonated with many parents.

What is the Family Committee?

What is the role of the Family Committee?

Family committee: a bridge between school and family

　　The logistics department in charge of class supplies, the information department in charge of photos and videos, and the propaganda department in charge of taking photos and cutting videos... The small family committee has a clear division of labor within each department, which is like a formal organization.

The division of labor for a certain elementary school committee.

Photo courtesy of the interviewee.

　　"The main function of the family committee is to serve the class, and parents voluntarily sign up." Zhang Fang is the mother of a second-grade child. She said that when the child first entered the first grade, the teacher initiated the establishment of a family committee.

　　In fact, as early as 2012, the Ministry of Education issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Establishment of Parent Committees of Primary and Secondary Schools and Kindergartens" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), pointing out that the establishment of parent committees should be actively promoted to ensure that the parent committees effectively supervise the work of the school.

　　The "Opinions" make it clear that the parent committee should perform its duties under the guidance of the school, including providing opinions and suggestions on the school's work plan and important decisions, especially matters concerning the vital interests of students and parents.

Supervise the educational and teaching activities carried out by the school to help the school improve its work; give full play to the resource advantages of parents to provide educational resources and voluntary services for students to carry out extra-school activities; inform parents of the school’s recent important work and important measures to be taken, listen to and Convey parents’ opinions and suggestions on the work of the school; promptly reflect the wishes of parents to the school, listen to and convey the school’s hopes and requirements of parents, and promote mutual understanding between the school and the family.

　　However, in the actual operation, the responsibilities of some family committees seem to have changed.

Data map: Students are entering the school near the Garden Bridge in Beijing.

Photo by Ren Jing

Crowdfunding, gift-giving, control evaluation...The family committee changes to the support club?

　　"Before Teacher's Day, the family committee said that they would buy gifts for teachers, and everyone received 200 yuan." "200 yuan is already considered less. We paid 1,000 yuan as soon as the school started, saying that it was a unified purchase of stationery, materials and so on." .

In some family committees, "crowdfunding" has become a standard feature.

　　In addition to the purchase of children's school supplies, the funds raised by crowdfunding are also used to pay for various activities, classroom cleaning costs, and purchase gifts.

　　Among the many expenditures, the most criticized is the purchase of gifts for teachers.

Liu Xi, who lives in Beijing, is a mother of a kindergarten child. She told Chinanews.com that the funds raised by the family committee are mostly used to give gifts to teachers, usually buying flowers or pennants.

　　"A few days ago it was Teachers' Day. The Family Committee organized activities on Teachers' Day. It cost 1,800 yuan for half a day. This pomp is big enough." Tao Ming, a parent of a primary school in Haikou City, mentioned the recent expenses of the family A little angry.

　　According to another netizen, some family committees still have "control evaluation" phenomenon.

A parent raised questions about the books purchased by the Family Committee, and immediately received a counterattack-"Is there any problem with the hard work of buying books?" "If you ask what the book looks like, there will be a problem."

　　This is not an isolated case. Some parents said that the family committee has absolute control over various expenses. “Whoever says nothing about class fees and various expenses will immediately be regarded as an alternative.”

　　The arrogance of the parents of the family committee also made some non-family committee members miserable.

Data map: Parents take their children home from school after school.

Photo by Yin Liqin

Family committee members "operate in the dark," parents become school "handymen"

　　"When the school started, I signed up with the teacher to join the family committee, but the teacher said that the candidate has been determined." "We too, when the school started, the teacher directly announced the candidate for the family committee, and there was no chance to run for it." Many parents complained. There is a "black box operation" in the election of the committee.

　　The reason why so many parents want to "squeeze" into the family committee is because they feel that the teacher will pay more attention to the children of the family committee members.

　　According to a survey of 2004 parents conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily, 52.5% of the interviewed parents believe that opportunities such as merit awards are more likely to be favored by the children of the family committee.

Therefore, the family committee has also become a "sweet rice cake" in the eyes of some parents.

　　However, the above-mentioned "Guiding Opinions on Establishing Parents’ Committees for Kindergartens in Primary and Secondary Schools" clearly stipulates that the school should organize parents, according to a certain democratic procedure, in accordance with the principles of fairness, fairness, and openness, and on a voluntary basis, elect to represent all parents. Parents of students who are willing to form a parent committee.

　　In addition to potential outward bias, members of the family committee also have additional "powers."

　　Liu Xi told Chinanews.com that even during the epidemic, parents of the family committee can enter the kindergarten to participate in the sports meeting. “I don’t know that parents can enter the school. Instructed to arrange parents to go to school to work, "The New Year's Day party collects the music performed by the children, takes pictures at the sports meeting, goes to school every morning, etc., all of which are for parents to do."

　　Some parents also said that as non-members of the family committee, they have become school "handymen"-cleaning before school and school hygiene evaluation, going to the school gate on traffic duties, taking a nap on duty, holding cups for sports meetings, tearing papers, and loading up Boxes, all kinds of cleaning... "If it weren't for the epidemic, and school was not allowed, it is estimated that the number of items will increase."

　　"This kind of family committee is just a fake family committee with the concept of a family committee." Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, believes that "the current family committee has these problems because it does not follow the true meaning of the family committee. Meeting, elect members of the family committee and independently carry out the work of the family committee."

　　"Only by clarifying the responsibilities of the family committee and regulating the process of the family committee, the family committee can return to its original intention-assisting family education and teaching, and truly representing the wishes of parents." said Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences.

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　　(At the request of the interviewee, the parents in the text are all aliases)