As a father of 2 school-age children, I applaud the decision to abolish free parking for teachers.

If other civil servants don’t get to park for free under the ‘clean wage policy’, it is important for teachers to suffer likewise.

However, this ‘clean wage’ idea does NOT go far enough. We must tackle the REAL problem: our children.

Many of them refuse to follow a ‘clean learning policy’. They abuse the education system to enjoy ‘hidden benefits’ that are twice as bad as free parking.

Let me give you an example.

Recently, I visited my daughter’s school for a parent-teacher conference. The talk went well, but the things I saw in her school absolutely shook me.

After leaving the conference, I saw a class being dismissed. When the other students scurried off, a bespectacled boy slid up to the teacher and claimed that he ‘did not understand the part about sinx’.

To my horror, the teacher then spent 15 FULL MINUTES drawing triangles on the whiteboard for him and him alone.

Let me ask you, dear reader, how is this fair to the other students who had no problem understanding the lesson? What entitles him to extra attention that his peers did not receive??

When I questioned this young Najib about his ‘unclean learning’, he had the audacity to shrug and tell me: “Don’t understand must ask what.”

As if he had every right to enjoy this unearned benefit!

I counted no less than 6 triangles of varying sizes which no other students had a chance to see.

Perhaps this was an isolated incident, I told myself, but nothing could shake the feeling that I had found something rotten at the heart of our education system.

Upon further investigation, I realised that such ‘hidden subsidies’ were everywhere. Apparently, many students feel zero guilt for using more than their allotted share of a teacher’s time to ask questions about grammar or even personal issues.

Perks like stickers, extra feedback, and practice papers were not just widespread, they were expected.

One brazen youngster even demanded Kinokuniya vouchers simply for making good progress!

At this point, my head was spinning. Until then, I thought that our schools were run fairly and ‘transparently’. I believed they had ‘internal checks and balances’ to prevent such flagrant abuse.

But now I see the truth. Our schools are opium dens of vice and deceit, and our students have corrupted the teaching service with their attitude of entitlement.

No wonder teachers made such a big hoo-ha about free parking; they learnt from their students to expect such subsidies.

Dear Auditor-General, this needs to stop immediately. We cannot give benefits to just one group of students, even if they are weaker or come from less privileged backgrounds.

These students need to show the proper respect for ‘government guidelines’. They need to stop their irresponsible use of teaching resources, just as teachers need to stop parking for free.

I propose that we enforce a ‘clean learning policy’ for ALL kids. If a student can’t solve for z or spell ‘government’ correctly, then that’s just tough luck.

‘Internal self-discipline’ is just as important as education.