Community wary over school merger proposal
KUCHING: The Chinese community is worried about the future of Chinese education in the state following the suggestion by Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong to merge under-enrolled schools in rural areas.
Kuching Yung’s Foochow Club chairman Jeffrey Choo said Chinese education is fundamentally important to the community so that the next generation can continue to learn in their mother tongue.
“We hope for the government to do their best and let Chinese primary schools to remain in operation instead of closing them down,” he said at the club’s 30th anniversary celebration here on Sunday.
Political secretary to the chief minister Tan Kai, who spoke at the event, said Manyin had suggested the merging of rural schools with less than 150 students as the move will benefit the students.
He said in Singapore, primary schools have between 750- 800 students while in Sarawak, there were schools with as few as 10 students.
“Teachers sent to teach in these schools become not motivated to teach or not willing to go there. This results in one teacher having to teach many subjects, ending up with low performance.
“This leads to wasting a lot of education resources and was what led to this (merger) suggestion,” said Tan.
He mentioned that the Education Ministry had said that it could not follow Singapore’s lead of minimum 750 students, which was why the minimum enrollment was set at 150 students.
Meanwhile, Tan suggested that Foochows take the lead in thinking of how to add value for Sarawakians.
“We have to brainstorm with each other for our future. Sarawak’s population is only 2.7 million compared to 30 million in the whole of Malaysia.
“We need to think how to maximise our value so that we can influence the federal government so that in the future, the federal government will continue with its open, moderate policy,” he said.
Tan was representing Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian at the event. Chinese Consul- General in Kuching Fu Jijun and special guest Dato Seri Lau Wei Kiong were also present.