China's top corruption watchdog has uncovered a shockingly widespread habit among schools up and down the country that have been massively overcharging unlucky parents. Estimates place the amount of money embezzled in unwarranted school fees since 2002 at 1.7 billion yuan (about US$217 million).

 

At least, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), 1.6 billion yuan of these funds has been returned to the claimants. Inflated school fees have been an increasingly painful thorn in the side of educational sector in recent years as complaints piled up.  

 

The CCDI has sought to overhaul the whole system by removing a batch of official documents from the equation that previously prevented the effective implementation of central government policies, a move credited with saving 1.9 billion yuan for the public in 2003.

 

Seeking to prevent this situation from occurring again, the Ministry of Education has promised to devise a transparent system that will prevent schools from overcharging. To this end, a taskforce has been dispatched to study the collection of educational funds across nine provinces.

 

Furthermore, Chinese discipline watchdogs have cracked down on this sort of activity, putting away over 60,000 offenders involved in 750,000 separate cases since CPC's 16th National Congress in 2002, the CCDI said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2007)