TPHS parents and students are not spared the hardships during this unprecedented difficult time caused by the Coronavirus pandemic and MCO lockdown.
 
The students of TPHS are forced to switch to online teaching/learning and are prohibited or unable to use the school facilities as directed by the relevant Ministry. However, TPHS has imposed full fees during the MCO lockdown and despite many appeals by the parents, the school has recently announced in their official e-mail maintaining their stand to charge the fees whilst offering a meagre “goodwill discount” ranging from RM600-760 per student across the school which accounts for less than 5% of the school fees.
 
The parents of TPHS request TPHS to extend a discount of up to Fifty percent (50 %) of school fees during the MCO for the period of March - June 2020 for all students and up till December 2020 for non exam years students based on the following reasons :-
 
1.​ In principal, we agree to pay for what is provided namely teachers’ salaries and minimum administrative supports from staff which fall under Staff Overhead.
 
2​. TPHS should not charge for facilities that are not being used or given during the MCO. No fees should be collected for services which are not rendered. These include :-
 
i) The facilities provided by the school - swimming pool, music room, gym, dance room, basketball courts, fields etc.
 
ii) The multiple ECA activities available, coupled with excellent facilities and professional guidance.
 
iii) The education facilities and teaching environment, well equipped classrooms, labs, and learning equipment.
 
iv) To have our children spend their day in a safe and secure environment from 7.30am till 3.30pm, 5 times/week.
 
v) The overall ambience of the school - the great open space and companionship with other students, friends and the school community.
 
3.​ Normal school activities have undoubtedly been disrupted. Online learning hasn’t been as effective as face-to-face lessons which forms the basis of the fundamental difference in fees in the different teaching platforms to begin with.  Also, the effectiveness of remote online video lessons only somewhat apply to the older ones, where a certain level of maturity, responsibility and cooperation is required. The lower level students and even the younger Kindy students struggle to maximise these online lessons.
 
4.​ Also, it cannot be assumed that good quality Internet connectivity is available to us all especially in a place like Sarawak where the internet speed rate generally still falls below the national average. For locations where good Internet connectivity is available, there have been known instances where higher costs have been incurred to increase the data plan to ensure the fruitfulness of online learning especially in the case of there being more than one child in a household.
 
5.​ In turn, parents bear the actual costs of school. Due to the students staying home during this time, we incur higher actual running costs in terms of electricity usage from more frequent aircon, computer, wifi utilisation and a lot more. We use our own laptops, computers, printers and papers to print material. These would normally be incurred by the school which automatically translates into savings during the period students are physically away.
 
6.​ We parents too have to earnestly put in time and effort to ‘teach’ and guide our children (more so for the younger ones) at home and there is definitely no calculation method that can accurately attribute a cost/value to this factor. Additionally, some parents have to delicately juggle these with their own work-from-home commitment.
 
It is based on these reasons that we urge TPHS to consider extending a higher discount/waiver to the school fees to more accurately reflect the ‘loss of normal school’ activities and to ease the financial pressure on parents affected by the Covid 19 pandemic.

A discount by TPHS would augur well for the school in keeping with the ongoing trend by other private schools locally and outside Sarawak who offer substantial discount of their fees during this difficult time, hence playing their part as a responsible education service provider upholding good business ethics.