No Primary 1 pupils for Chinese school
SIBU: SJK ( C) Yong Shing in Sungai Stabau did not have a single Primary One pupil enrolled at the start of the new school year yesterday.
Acting headmistress Teng Mee Leng said she had been teaching at the school for 10 years and this was the first time there was zero registration. She believed that the crisis in getting pupils at the school would continue as the population in the surrounding area was getting smaller each year.
“Every year, the school’s board of management works very hard to go around the nearby areas, especially the longhouses, to convince parents to send their children to the school.
“Despite having no pupil today ( yesterday), I think the management is trying very hard again to get registration for this year. So far, no decision has been made, so the class will still be open to accept new pupils,” she said.
Nevertheless, she said the school would have four pupils to enter Primary One next year.
According to Teng, there was no difference in teaching methods between schools in urban areas and those in rural areas.
“The only difference is that the pupils in the rural areas are fewer and they have no access to various tuition classes. However, the teachers here will stay back in the afternoon to give tuition to the pupils,” she pointed out.
She also said that with only nine pupils at SJK(C) Yong Shing this year, the students were very close with one another regardless of which class they were in.
Meanwhile, according to a committee board member, the board worked diligently every year to recruit more pupils.
“We have to work very hard to make sure that the school will stay afloat,” he said.
Since its establishment in 1924, SJK ( C) Yong Shing had never failed to provide education to the children living nearby, he pointed out. The school was once filled with school children, up to about 60 pupils; however, that number has dwindled. In 2011, the school only had 20 pupils and last year, the number dropped to 12.
This year, the number of pupils dropped again to nine.
Besides SJK ( C) Yong Shing, there are four other primary schools in the vicinity, namely SJK (C) Kiew Nang, SJK (C) Sung Sang, SJK (C) Kwong Kok and SJK (C) Ning Sing. These four schools do not have the same problem faced by SJK (C) Yong Shing.
“That is because SJK (C) Kiew Nang and SJK (C) Sung Sang are situated very near residential areas. There are many longhouses surrounding SJK ( C) Kwong Kok.
“As for SJK(C) Ning Sing, there are many factories around,” he explained.