Parents To Be Fleeced By New School Qualification Costs, Says Donnelly
The cost of sitting NCEA is to rise this year by almost 50%, from $80 to $150 in 2003. New Zealand first education
spokesperson, Brian Donnelly has defined the move as horrendous.
“This decision is nothing more than an additional tax on parents. It will hit hardest families with low-income working
parents.
“Many children from these battling families are going to find they will not be able to receive qualifications they
deserve because their parents can’t pay the fees.
“Because the government did not provide funding for the implementation of NCEA, the NZ Qualifications Authority has had
to use up its reserves. Now it is recuperating these costs from parents.
“The most immoral aspect of the new cost regime is that children doing Sixth Form Certificate, (which has low
administration costs associated) will also have to pay $150.
“What this government is doing with these charges is wrong. Students should be able to enter essential qualifications at
no cost to their parents. Instead their parents are being fleeced.” says Brian Donnelly.