Chinese Schools Under Siege ?

In the last few weeks, the government has come out with a series of pronoucements which might stymie the growth of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan China (SJKC) and SJKT ( Tamil Primiary Schools) in the country.

Amongst these are:
1. Minimum 80% building fund ready before any construction work can begin. Not only does the government does not come out with the allocations to fund the construction (which till today it still cannot give a satisfactory answer) , it is now placing restrictions on school expansion. As it is already burdensome enough for SJKC to seek public donations to fund the constructions costs, the new policy will further hinder SJKC development. Most of the time, construction and public donations are being carried out simultateously. Contractors are also willing to provide extended credit term to the Board of Governors.

Demands for places in SJKC are at record high, especially at new suburbs where hundreds of applicants have been rejected due to insuffucient places. By imposing a minimum funds must be available, constructions of new buildings and new relocated schools will be delayed, thus depriving thousands the opportunity to study in the school of their choice.

2. A capping of 10 subjects for SPM examiniations for credit recogntion. After much oppsition by the Indian & Chinese community, the Education Ministry finally agreed to allow students the choice of 2 additional optional subjects, ie Chinese/Tamil Language and vernacular literature subjects. However these optional subjects will not be given merit points and hence due recogntion for scholarships. This definitely run against the Federal Constitution which guarantees the existence and usage of vernacular languages in the country.

3. The reduced intake for schools holiday temporary teacher training program. There aren’t enough qualified teachers for SJKCs and temporary teachers are being recruited in large numbers to fill in the void. These teachers subsequently attend training program to upgrade their skills and are converted to permanent teachers once conditions are fulfilled. Government has not been able to resolve teacher shortages in SJKCs, depsite the many promises made by the government, especially past and present MCA deputy Education Minster. The lower intake will further aggravate the dire situations.

Apart from these unwelcome policies, then we have earlier on the stupid remarks made by Prof Khoo Kay Kim, a historian, who advocated a single school stream system and further infuriated the Chinese community by commenting that teaching methods in SJKC only produced copy cat students.