Data from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China shows that Chinese schools had overcharged a massive RMB1.7 billion in unwarranted fees in the past five years, and RMB1.6 billion has already been returned to parents.
In recent years, China's educational sector has generated a lot of complaints because of inflated school fees. To clean up the sector, the government has modified or abolished a batch of official documents which ran contrary to central government policies. According to CCDI, the reforms have punished 60,000 people since 2002 and saved the public RMB1.9 billion in 2003 alone.
The Ministry of Education has promised to work out a fair and transparent fee system this year to prevent schools from overcharging parents, and the ministry has sent a special team to nine provinces to supervise how education funds were used.
