Low-intake schools to close or merge

A TOTAL of 176 schools with less than 20 students nationwide may be closed or merged, the Dewan Rakyat was told.

Stating this, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said 44 schools have less than 10 students while 132 school have less than 20 students.

“Three schools located in Jalan Pasar in Kuala Lumpur have been merged due to low student population,” he said.

Mahdzir said a school with less than 150 students is defined as having low student population. Based on this and a study, there are a total of 2,996 schools in the country that has low student population.

He said from the total, 2,058 were national schools, 578 Chinese national primary schools, and 360 Tamil national primary schools.

Mahdzir was responding to Ahmad Lai Bujang (BN-Sibuti), who asked whether the government has done a study on the need to consolidate under-enrolled schools in Sarawak.

He said a comprehensive study is under way to determine if these schools can be closed or merged.

However, he said the ministry would not force a school to close or merge with another school unless the parents of the students consent to it.

“There was a case where a Chinese national primary school remained open despite only having two students.

The parents of the students had refused to give their consent and the two students were allowed to complete their Standard Six before it was done.”

He said Sabah and Sarawak faced low school population problems due to the remote location of the schools, adding that 27 schools in Sibuti have less than 150 students due to this.

It is a requirement that dormitories are built for schools with low student populations that are merged, particularly in the remote areas. – by Karen Arukesamy