Merger of under-enrolled schools will wait for completion of study: Mahdzir Khalid

KUALA LUMPUR: The decision on the need to merge under-enrolled schools in the country will only be made after the study on the matter is completed soon, said Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (pix).
He told the Dewan Rakyat sitting today that several factors considered in the study that began in 2016 included the distance between the schools affected and the facilities that must be improved if the merger of the schools were to be implemented.
Mahdzir said so far there were 2,996 under-enrolled schools throughout the country with enrollments of less than 150 and of the total, 2,058 schools were National Schools, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) (578) and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) (360).
Of this number, 132 schools had 20 pupils or less and 44 schools had 10 pupils or less.
He disclosed this when replying to a question from Ahmad Lai Bujang (BN-Sibuti) who wanted to know if the Education Ministry had started the study on the need to merge under-enrolled schools in Sarawak.
Mahdzir said currently three under-enrolled schools in Kuala Lumpur had been merged namely Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Jalan Pasar, SK Lelaki Jalan Pasar and SK Jalan Pasar 2 which were merged under SK Jalan Pasar. — Bernama