with $2 monthly charges for usage. No alternatives.
http://www.asiaone.com.sg/streats/20040219_story3_1.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
February 19, 2004
$2 fee to buy to buy from tuckshop School's cashless system forces
pupils to use ez-link in canteen,bookshop
By Chua Kong Ho
Would you fork out $24 a year in fees so that you could use an
ez-link card to pay for your food at the canteen?
Perhaps.
But students at Naval Base Primary School do not have a
choice.
They have to use ez-link cards to pay for their canteen
transactions and purchases at the bookshop because their school has
gone - cashless.
The students can opt out of the scheme.
But the principal's ban on canteen vendors accepting cash means
students would then be unable to buy food.
IT vendor Chowiz Pte Ltd, which developed and manages the Web-based
system the canteen vendors use, charges each student $2 a
month.
Naval Base Primary School's principal, Ms Elizabeth Poey, told
reporters at the launch of the scheme yesterday that the $2 is
deducted from the students' Edusave accounts.
Both EZ-Link and POSB, which are behind the arrangement, stand to
gain from their involvement.
EZ-Link makes a commission on every transaction made using an
ez-link card.
POSB benefits, as it stands to grow its customer base because, in
order to participate in this scheme, students need to have a
POSBKids Account
linked to the ez-link card.
But the bank, which pioneered mass savings among children here,
said that students will gain from this.
Under the scheme, unspent pocket money can be transferred to the
child's POSBKids Account to earn interest.
This allows children to learn about budgeting and managing their
finances from a young age, said POSB managing director Lam Siok
Loon.
Chowiz, POSB and EZ-Link target introducing this scheme at another
40 schools by the end of the year.
Said Mrs Lam: "Our aim is to open a POSBKids Account for every
primary school kid in Singapore.
POSB currently has more than 300,000 POSBKids Accounts.
Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State (Education, Community
Development and Sports), attending the launch of the scheme
yesterday, said: "It is
heartening to see such collaboration between the private sector and
schools as the ultimate beneficiaries are our students."
Chowiz, too.
It comes up with an initial outlay of about $40,000 a school to
equip it with the necessary Web server, card readers and
terminals.
But it will collect $26,400 from the 1,100 students at Naval Base
Primary School, at $2 a student.
With a target of 40 schools, Chowiz can expect more than $1 million
in fees a year.
Mr Chow Hoo Siong, Chowiz's managing director, said that one in 10
parents initially chose to opt out of the scheme.
"With any new technology, there will be some who are initially
opposed to it, he said, adding that half of those who initially
opted out have since rejoined the scheme."
Mr Chow also said that Chowiz has approached tertiary institutions
with the same proposal to go cashless but without success.
"Tertiary students are older and much
harder to convince (of the value of the services), he said.
EZ-Link senior vice-president Nicholas Lee said that he did not
expect the schools to be a "primary revenue driver for the
loss-making company".
"This is more about adding value to the ez-link card and to get the
schoolchildren used to paying for purchases with their ez-link
card, he said.
EZ-Link, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Land Transport Authority,
incurred public wrath when it chose to sell its ez-link cards to
members of the public for $5 instead of collecting a refundable
deposit.
It has tried to develop non-transit uses for its contactless cards
but has met with little success.
EZ-Link earns a commission each time someone uses its cards to pay
for a purchase.
Mr Lee declined to reveal how much commission EZ-Link earns per
transaction,but it is believed to be around 1.4 per cent of the
transaction value.
He also told Streats yesterday that EZ-Link was planning to
interest companies in using its cards as staff passes, which would
have functions ranging from building access to keeping track of
attendance.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
