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User avatar
By Insaan
#16383
Salam

this year has seen yet another raise in school fees in the Al-Muntazir schools. My neice is entering grade 1 this year and the parents have to pay Tshs. 1.8 million for entrance & fees for the year. 1.8 million!! Grade 1?!! Is this really justifiable? Can our community members afford these fees? Imagine if primary school fees are such, what about secondary?

Ok you will say that there is instalment plan for paying the fees. According to what I know the deadline to pay the fees fully in instalment is May. That gives you 5 months only!

Most of our community children go to Our school and you would say that most of the community is middle class. Can we really afford this? Is it even fair? I am sure the cost of running the schools are quite high but surely the number of pupils attending our schools are quite good too since children outside our community also attend them. So won't they be able to cover the expenses in lesser fees? Are we tryingto make super profits out of running education institutes in the name of Al-Mahdi (ATFS)?
User avatar
By Insaan
#16390
Something i belive needs attention, if not all some percentage can be waived to give relief to our community,
Its a shame the name of HUJJATALLAH if these instituitions are running then the out come seriously will be sour.

Allah swt may guide these people.
User avatar
By zalidina
#16393
Insaan wrote:Something i belive needs attention, if not all some percentage can be waived to give relief to our community,
Its a shame the name of HUJJATALLAH if these instituitions are running then the out come seriously will be sour.

Allah swt may guide these people.
The school does give a rebate to community members via the Jamaat but very few people apply for it. It is only available to members of the community who cannot afford to pay the whole amount.
Also for people who are struggling to make ends meet (due to school fees or other living expenses), the Jamaat has created a committee called the Economic Empowerment Committee whose sole purpose it to empower and uplift members of our community who can not make ends meet. The committee is quite new but has helped many people cope with the ever increasing living expenses in Dar.
If you PM me, I can give you contact details for people in charge of the rebate system. I am part of the economic empowerment committee so you can contact me if you need to via PM as well.
User avatar
By Insaan
#16395
But I'm sure there are people in the community who would feel applying for a rebate was kinda like begging. Dignity issues and all.

Why is it that a school built using khums money (on the pretext that the poor community members need a school of their own) need to charge fees this high? As a university student, my annual fees are 1.8 million also. Does a grade one student really need to pay as much? And remember that text books aren't included.

The rich peoples' kids go to aga khan or IST, the poor beg and pay, and the rest, the middle class that the jamaat claims to empower, is the one that is crippled in the process.
User avatar
By zalidina
#16413
Sorry my last post was slightly incorrect. The rebate is a discount given to ALL jamaat members (regardless of income and wealth) because the schools are under the KSIJ and the jamaat believes that members should be able to get some benefit out of having community schools. The rebate needs to be applied for and is given to anyone who has paid membership (lawajam) to the jamaat. The only problem seems to be that not many people are aware of this rebate and therefore dont apply.
For members who still face hardship paying school fees the jamaat has a welfare committee that will assess each case and give fees assistance to the family to help them pay for the fees. This again needs to be applied for. This assistance is given on a needs basis so not everyone qualifies for it.
The issue of instalments, if I am not mistaken the welfare committee can also help increase the number of instalments so the amount paid is more spread out over the year. Don't quote me on this because I could be mistaken but its worth it to check if you do need it.
I don't have any connections to the CBE (the committee in charge of the school) hence don't know the reasoning behind the school fees pricing. I also have not studied in this country hence don't know how Al muntazir compares to other school in terms of quality of education and price but I'm sure if you bring it up at the next AGM or bring up your queries to a CBE member someone would be able to give you the reasoning behind the school fees structure.
User avatar
By Insaan
#16582
I would surly want to look at the structure of the expenses of ALMIS. I would advise them to reduce the school fees if not than atleast for the members of the community .. 1.8 m for school fees is too muchh to expensive!!! I hope we are not looking for profits and looking for security of our community!!!

Mohammed - 0719-666000
User avatar
By Insaan
#16583
Salams,

Compare it to other schools such as IST and Aga Khan its quite cheap my younger brother who is in Year 1 in IST pays $8000.So overcharging is not justifiable 1.8m is like 8 times cheaper than $8000.

PS Khums was used to build the school not to maintain it.
User avatar
By qamar
#16654
Insaan wrote:Salams,

Compare it to other schools such as IST and Aga Khan its quite cheap my younger brother who is in Year 1 in IST pays $8000.So overcharging is not justifiable 1.8m is like 8 times cheaper than $8000.

PS Khums was used to build the school not to maintain it.
are you serious.

if you are so keen to compare, why not compare to say Upanga Primary School? i am sure their schoool fees is 100's of times cheaper
User avatar
By qamar
#16655
Insaan wrote:I would surly want to look at the structure of the expenses of ALMIS. I would advise them to reduce the school fees if not than atleast for the members of the community .. 1.8 m for school fees is too muchh to expensive!!! I hope we are not looking for profits and looking for security of our community!!!

Mohammed - 0719-666000
seconded
User avatar
By qamar
#16656
zalidina wrote:The rebate is a discount given to ALL jamaat members (regardless of income and wealth) because the schools are under the KSIJ and the jamaat believes that members should be able to get some benefit out of having community schools. The rebate needs to be applied for and is given to anyone who has paid membership (lawajam) to the jamaat. The only problem seems to be that not many people are aware of this rebate and therefore dont apply.
if its for all then why is there a need to apply for it?????

shouldnt it be applied automatically?

why isnt a big notice been put in mosque so that people know its available?

how much is the rebate anyway?
User avatar
By zalidina
#16660
qamar wrote: if its for all then why is there a need to apply for it?????

shouldnt it be applied automatically?

why isnt a big notice been put in mosque so that people know its available?

how much is the rebate anyway?
The application is to stop non-community members who go to that school from getting it. the school does not have records of membership therefore it needs to go through the jamaat. its around 200k if I am not mistaken, give or take 50k.
User avatar
By qamar
#16858
i still think alias fees are too high considering the land is free buildings have been built using donations and teachers get meagre pay
User avatar
By Insaan
#16866
@qammar you are forgetting
*Electricity
*Water
*Payment to USC for using sports field
*Gardening Cost
*Taxes
*Internet Services
*Stationery
*Fax, Web Hosting and Mail
*Materials for Library
*Fuel for Buses
*CBE Staff Salary

Just saying that you need to consider other cost there might even be more costs
User avatar
By qamar
#16868
insaan thanks for raising the issue of other expenses

i was lucky enough to get some data with which we can explore your theory that other expenses are what is causing alms school fees to be sky-high, despite their assets being largely donor-funded

in the year 2009 the total income for alms schools was 3,656,260,000
out of which payroll expense showed 2,731,052,000 i.e. about 230 million a month - we don't know how much of these go to teachers and how much to admin staff
electricity water n utilities was 61,659,000 - over 5 million a month
gardening cost may be included in repair and maintenance of 162,854,000 - more than 13.5 million a month!!!!!!
payment to usc - how much is it? can't be too big a figure to result in sky-high fees?
taxes - i understand taxes are on profits so if they reduce fees and don't make profit then no taxes i don't understand how taxes can make them raise fees
internet, fax web hosting and mail may be in communication expenses of 30,077,000 - about 2.5 million a month
stationary may be included in student educational expenses of 141,001,000 - about 12 million a month - what else would this contain
or maybe its in school activities of 67,019,000 - over 5 million per month - don't know the difference between this and the above and how these expenses become so huge
material for library is probably included in one of the above\
fuel for buses may be in motor vehicle expenses of 51,058,000 - aver 4 million a month

so questions are
1. out of 230 million salaries how much is for teachers and how much for admin or cbe staff and on what basis
2. expenses like student educational expense and school activities are what
3. repair and maintenance 13.5 million a month?
also there are expenses for establishment expenses of 143,179,000 - about 12 million a month - what are these
in addition something like cameras and gardening of over 200,000,000 are added to fixed assets and depreciated at 50% every year. what are these
after all these still there is profit of 250 million
User avatar
By Insaan
#16874
Salaam,

There is an AGM i believe every year where community members are allowed to ask any and all questions of Management.

Perhaphs the more prudent approach here will be to raise these issues at the AGM.
But since you have all these questions, and you have every right to and you havent asked at an AGM, dont you think it would be more appriopriate to go speak with the guys in charge and actually know of these things rather than questioning the expenses and what it could and could not contain?

The numbers you have mentioned seem to be specific, a bit too specific actually, could you share where you got the data from?

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