Press Digest - Dong Zong wll not oppose SJKC closures if new ones built systematically

DONG Zong (United Chinese School Committees Association) president Datuk Vincent Lau said the association will not oppose any government move to close under-enrolled national-type Chinese primary schools (SJKCs) if new ones are built in a systematic manner.
Stressing that there is a difference between relocating under-enrolled SJKCs that is being practised and building new ones, he said the government should systematically build such schools to give the Chinese community the confidence that the government is sincere in helping to meet its needs, China Press reported yesterday.
“The Chinese community is jealously guarding under-enrolled SJKCs because it is worried that the number of these schools would shrink,” Lau told the media after attending an interaction session between Dong Zong and representatives of some under-enrolled SJKCs in Kedah at SJKC Cheng Yu in Alor Star on Monday.
He noted that the prime minister had, on a number of occasions including election campaigns, promised that the government would build more SJKCs, which are actually part of the national education system, but there was no follow-up.
He said many rural SJKCs face enrollment problems due the migration of many Chinese families to urban areas.
“Dong Zong officials are visiting under-enrolled SJKCs to further understand the problems they are facing,” he said, adding that the Chinese education movement has sent out a questionnaire to all 1,298 SJKCs in the country, with the aim of building a database on these schools and identify the problems they are facing.
According to Dong Zong chief executive officer Hong Waon Ying, of the 489 under-enrolled SJKCs in the country, 367 have fewer than 60 pupils each.
She said 41 out of the 90 SJKCs in Kedah are under-enrolled and eight of them had only 12 new pupils each this year.