SJK Chung Hua Stampin in dire need of new block, expansion
KUCHING: With 80 years of history, SJK Chung Hua Stampin at Jalan Sg Tapang in Kota Sentosa here is now in dire need of a new school block and expansion to meet the rising demand for enrolment.
The s c hool r emains a wooden block ever since its establishment way back in 1938. Today, its pupils have to make do with facilities that are considered deficient. To provide an environment more conducive to learning, the school’s board of management led by Pui Wen Mui is seeking for funds to erect a new concrete school building.
According to headmistress Ngu Siong Ngo, the school turned down a few applications for enrolment this year for fear that its wooden structure could not accommodate the increasing number of students.
“Our school block is still wooden and we cannot afford to take in too many pupi ls because young kids have the tendency to run around or jump up and down.
“For the safety of our children, we have to keep the number of new pupils at 35, one class a year,” she said at a briefing with Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen, who is Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, yesterday.
Chong had a brief walkabout at the school fol lowing the briefing initiated by Pui.
Ngu said the school presently has 158 pupils, 76 per cent of whom are Chinese. According to her, SJK Chung Hua Stampin lacks the facilities necessary to meet the usual expectations.
As an example, she said the school library had to be turned into a conference room or a venue for other activities or purposes when the need arose. She added that the school, which had 15 teachers and staffers, also offered religious class to four pupils.
Pu id is closed that the board was looking at raising at least RM3 million to build a four- storey school block comprising 20 classrooms, an administrative room, a library, a science room and others.
“We hope that the government, be it federal or state, will help us meet the project cost even though we are doing our part to raise the funds.” He said the school started offering lessons in 1936 and was registered two years later.
“The board plans to organise the 81st anniversary event for next year in the hope of raising more funds for the school rebuilding project,” he added.
At a press conference later, Chong said the board had submitted an application to the Land and Survey Department ( LSD) Sarawak to acquire the adjacent land for the expansion project.
He noted that more housing projects are being developed at Jalan Sungai Tapang, which means that the demand for education would certainly surge.
According to him, the school requires at least another two to three acres of land for the expansion project in order to meet future needs. At present, the 80-year- old institution is sitting on a half-acre land.
Chong said it should not take LSD and the Sarawak government more than a year to complete the acquisition of the land.
Chong, who is a lawyer by profession, advised owner of the land not to worry about the land being acquired by the Sarawak government as any land acquired by the government would be compensated according to market price.
Should the landowner is not satisfied with the compensation offered by the government, Chong said the landowner could bring the case to court to have the price reviewed upwards.
“So do not fear to have your land acquired. We support acquisition of land for public purposes such as building and expanding schools, but we condemn acquisition of land for the benefit of cronies such as developing highend condominiums,” he added.