10 April 2018

The Ministry of Education has said that the move to charge teachers for parking their cars in schools arose due to the recognition that allowing school staff to park for free constitutes a taxable benefit.

The ministry therefore decided that an appropriate season parking charge in schools had to be imposed.

Teachers often work late, beyond regular working hours, to provide students with extra tuition or to conduct co-curricula activities. They also often go above and beyond their call of duty to be present at school beyond the required work days.

In spite of this, the Auditor-General’s Office pointed out in 2015 that free parking or parking charges that are below market rates at polytechnics and ITE were considered “hidden subsidies under the civil service’s clean wage policy”.

Staff who drive cars have to pay S$720 annually for parking in uncovered lots and S$960 for covered lots. Meanwhile, those who ride motorcycles have to pay S$123 yearly for parking in uncovered lots and S$135 for covered lots.