Voluntary donations for the school: pros and cons

Baku/28.04.22/Turan: Minister of Education Emin Amrullaev said that from the new academic year, a model of voluntary donations can be applied in schools.

According to him, several models of voluntary donations from parents to schools were presented.

The Minister also spoke about a system of voluntary donations in schools at the end of 2021. He noted that the Ministry of Education, after analyzing the opinions expressed in public discussions, studying public opinion, will present more specific mechanisms on this issue in the first months of 2022.

Will this model become a  compulsory cash contributions to the school treasury? Is it possible to eradicate a bribe in this way? In several countries around the world, there is a model of voluntary donations in schools.

For example, almost all schools in New Zealand collect voluntary donations. Depending on the prestige of the district in which the school is located, the amounts of donations also differ. The average donation is $250 per year. The collected funds are directed to additional equipment of classes and the territory of the school.

Although some schools in the UK have a model of voluntary donations, this causes dissatisfaction among parents. In 2018, the British school Wednesbury Oak Academy banned children from playing and training on the sports ground whose parents did not make donations, writes The Guardian.

Azerbaijani legislation allows collection of donations in schools. According to Article 38 of the Law “On Education”, an educational institution has the right, in accordance with the procedure established by law, to provide various paid educational services to individuals and legal entities, engage in entrepreneurial activities, receive donations and voluntary assistance from legal entities and individuals. Funds and other property received from these sources do not affect the amount of funds allocated to the state educational institution from the budget, and are freely used in accordance with its charter.

Grants, bequeathed funds, donations and assistance from legal entities and individuals, including foreigners and stateless persons, foreign legal entities in accordance with the law are indicated in the law as sources of funding for state and municipal educational institutions.

Baku resident Fatima Aliyeva believes that this system will lead to discrimination among children. "Because some people can donate and some people can't. Someone will be able to donate a large amount every month and will automatically become a more privileged student relative to other children."

She believes that this model cannot eradicate bribery. "To eradicate bribery, teachers need to be well paid. Let the donation issue be voluntary, but I do not believe in it. They will come and demand donations, and everyone will be forced to pay."

The Ministry of Education said that the legalization of the collection of money at school is not the main goal. "The main goal is to establish proper communication between the school and the family. Illegal fundraising in schools has been a topic of discussion for many years, so an effective solution must be presented in this direction."

The ministry noted that the Public Council under the Ministry of Education is currently discussing the existence of a donation mechanism for schools and several models have been presented.

It was emphasized that the implementation of the model of voluntary donations to schools is planned for the new academic year. “Any school can join this model. But if people find it useless, the model will not be implemented in schools.”

Education expert Kamran Asadov said that the model of voluntary donations in schools exists in world practice. "The main issue here is spending the incoming funds. Now the money is being collected blindly, it is not known who collects the money for what purpose, but the model that the minister spoke about is that everyone can transfer money to a bank account, there must be reporting about what the money was spent on.

Positively evaluating the system of donations, the expert noted that today schools are not free to offer. "Schools are experiencing problems. Today there is a long bureaucratic process for the acquisition of any equipment for repair and restoration work. There is a need for financial autonomy. This can only be solved by voluntary donations, not illegal fees."

But, in his opinion, there will be negative situations. "For example, some directors will buy building materials in familiar stores, workshops at one price, and indicate a different price. That is, they will spend this money as they please. This is inevitable."

According to K. Aliyev, there should be public control over the spending of collected donations.—0—