Posts Tagged ‘Tamil school’

« Older Entries

Interview with SK Devamany

February 21st, 2010
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


From NST:

I REMEMBER WHEN… There was no toilet in school

2010/02/21

His father was the headmaster of an estate school and Datuk S. K. Devamany began his career as a teacher in a similar school. The deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department tells SANTHA OORJITHAM that Tamil schools have come a long way since then
I WAS born in 1957 in Yam Seng estate in Semanggol, near Taiping.

My father, S. Krishnasamy, was headmaster of the Tamil primary school there but later moved to Kamunting, where he became an ordinary teacher, so that we could go to King Edward VII school in Taiping.

My father was a very hardworking man. After school, we helped him to plant vegetables and we caught fish in the mining ponds.

We had prayers at 7pm followed by homework and revision. We had no TV until I was in Form Five because we couldn’t afford it. When there was something special on TV, we would watch at a neighbour’s home. And once a month, the nearby temple would screen “MGR” movies as part of its regular festivals.

After completing the Malaysian Certificate of Education (now known as Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) examination in 1975, I knew we couldn’t afford fees for me to continue my studies. My older brother entered a technical school and my sister took up a tailoring course.
Twenty days later, my father took me to the organiser of the Tamil schools and got me a job as a temporary teacher at SRJK(T) Ladang Air Tawar near Sitiawan. The salary was very low — RM180.

I had to send money home and lived on a tight budget. I shared a room with the 28-year-old headmaster, K. Periannan. I had bread and coffee for breakfast and at night, but I had a good lunch.

On my first day on the job, I had to walk the five kilometres of gravel road to the estate school. After that, the headmaster let me ride pillion on his Honda. And later still, my father gave me an old motorcycle.

I taught Bahasa Malaysia, English and Sports at the three-room school which had 52 pupils. There was no toilet. Pupils had to either go into the nearby jungle or go home to use the toilet. There was no canteen but they could buy food from a sundry shop nearby.

The second year I was there, we built a toilet together. The Public Works Department graded the sandy area. We used black oil to mark out running tracks and held our first Sports Day.

After earning a Certificate in Education, majoring in physical education (PE) and health, from the Cheras Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute in 1978, I was posted as a PE and English teacher to SM Felda Lasah near Sungai Siput, Perak.

The school had its own generator, but the teachers’ quarters had no electricity. I studied for the Higher School Certificate (now known as Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia) using a kerosene lamp.

In 1982, I enrolled at Universiti Malaya, where I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (honours) in Malay literature.

Dr M. Thambirajah (now Datuk) was our history lecturer. He challenged 48 of us in Dewan Kuliah E to help Indian students prepare for the STPM. Very few were taking the exam. That was Sept 24, 1982.

Thambirajah, the president of the Tamil Language Society, Thaiveegan Arumugam (now Datuk), and the rest of us prepared study notes and in 1983, the Sri Murugan Centre was launched with four branches.

I taught Bahasa Malaysia there. Today, the centre has 98 programmes in 28 towns. I still give lectures there sometimes and help to motivate teachers.

Back in Perak, I was posted to SM Batu Kurau in 1985, and as senior assistant at SM Chemor in 1990.

My rural postings helped me to understand that the community needs help. In the 1970s, absenteeism was high. Attendance was a challenge. We had to go find the students and bring them in. Doing well in exams was not a priority, but just getting them to be there.

MIC’s Social Strategic Foundation, which I chair, prints books for Tamil school pupils taking Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah and gives awards to the best pupils.

I became the member of parliament for Cameron Highlands in 2004 and was appointed deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in 2008, with a portfolio that includes policies on Indian Malaysian community issues for the Economic Planning Unit.

I am also a member of the special cabinet committee set up in 2008 to look into the welfare of Indians. Headed by the prime minister and MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, it includes Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam and Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan.

The committee looks at the overall development of Tamil schools. Seventy-two schools have been redeveloped with RM72 million and another 60 will be upgraded with RM100 million.

Last year, 323 Indian students were given Public Service Department scholarships and 600 Indian teachers were trained in special courses during their school holidays last year and this year.

Having started out as a teacher in a Tamil school, it is heartening for me to be involved at this level.

During the formulation of the Ninth Malaysia Plan and in its Mid-Term Review, for example, our focal point was Tamil schools and skills training. We will make sure empowerment of Tamil schools will be an important part of the National Key Result Areas and the 10th Malaysia Plan.

But whoever is marginalised will be included, whether they are among the poor in the urban or rural areas.

Tamil schools have improved greatly since 1975. Now consciousness is high and there are role models.

I still visit SRJK(T) Ladang Air Tawar every two or three years, to give motivational programmes and to help the school get funding. Now you can reach it via a tarred road. It has six classrooms and a better learning environment, including computers. It has a sports field, a fenced compound, toilets and a small eatery where poor students are provided free meals and milk by the Education Ministry.

I still have a connection with the former pupils. One of my Standard Six pupils is now a headmistress and her son is pursuing medical studies.

But there is still a lot to be done in reaching out to all rural schools, not just Tamil schools — improving academic performance, bringing ICT to schools, motivating parents and creating a very good environment for learning and overall development of the child.

My humble beginnings and teaching days have given me idealism and passion. It’s all about change for these people.

2 comments »

Posted in Indian, Tamil-Schools

Tags:

Two Tamil schools in Bera

January 25th, 2010
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


This is a good news indeed (although RM1.4 to RM1.5 million per schools is quite inadequate. We most likely have to repeat the pleas in another 4-5 years time). They are not new schools, but actually new buildings. If you search using keywords like “Kemayan” and “Menteri” at the MOE’s schools directory, you’ll find info about these schools, including their status (operational). And I expect the students to be less than 200 in each school as previous statistics indicate enrolment of less than 160 each.

The land status is not indicated, but the MOE directory lists the schools as “sekolah bantuan kerajaan”.

The federal government has approved RM2.97 million to build two Tamil primary schools in the district this year, Bera Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Sunday.

The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister said RM1.5 million had been allocated for the construction of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) Kemayan and RM1.47 million for SJKT Ladang Menteri.

“Tenders for the construction of the two schools will be called soon,” he said, adding that site-clearing work had already begun for the Ladang Menteri school.

Ismail Sabri made the announcement at the launch of the “Ponggal” (harvest) festival organised by the Bera Indian Cultural Organisation, at the Kemayan Subramaniar Temple here.

He reminded the people to be wary of attempts by opposition politicians to confuse them.

“The opposition brings up various issues to create chaos. Even the construction of these two schools is politicised. They claim that the government will not build the schools in Bera as there are only a small number of Indians in the district and, as such, the existing schools are sufficient,” he said. – from Bernama.

1 comment »

Posted in Tamil-Schools

Tags:

Where’s the report, ask parents

January 7th, 2010
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


I was just thinking about the Kampar bridge disaster two days ago (its new school term, and my mind just went to the families that lost their children)  and look at what appears in today’s news. So, what has been done so far? I know Perak state government had the contractor blacklisted. The outcome of  the investigation was announced, but I don’t remember the report being released. Teachers given counseling (parents and students?).  The parents started a law suit. Other than that?

The parents of the three drowned schoolchildren from the Kuala Dipang collapsed bridge tragedy late last year wants the Education Ministry to publicise its report on its investigations.

Former Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar said the three parents were hell-bent on pursuing the matter and wanted the findings to be made known to them.

”If there is nothing to hide, why keep it (the findings) a secret?” he told reporters during a press conference here on Thursday.

”The Government should tell the parents and the public what went wrong and punish those responsible for the tragedy,” said Sivakumar, also the Tronoh assemblyman who led the Pakatan Rakat ad hoc investigation committee into the matter.

”The matter should not be put aside as it has not been resolved yet,” he added.

Sivakumar said no action has been taken against those responsible for approving the contruction of the bridge since the Education Ministry completed their investigations last year.

”They already know the cause for the collapse of the bridge and also identified all the parties involved,” he said.

”Only the contractor who built the bridge has been made the scapegoat,” he claimed.

He noted that Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir had blacklisted the contractor and said he would not be awarded any more contracts.

No comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia, Indian, Tamil-Schools

Tags:

Selangor MB worried about Tamil schools UPSR results

January 5th, 2010
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Worrying is good start, dear MB. Question now is, what’s next? How about yearly allocation of RM10 million and land allocation/conversion for 5 schools per year?

About 45% of Tamil School pupils in Selangor do not fare well in the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination and this was something that had the state government worried, said Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

He said this could be due to a lack of support from parents who were mainly in the lower income group or the absence of an effective mechanism to help them achieve better performance.

He said this when handing over financial aid from the state government to Tamil schools at the Selangor state secretariat building here on Tuesday.

At the function, 31 Tamil schools received financial aid totalling RM704,000 while Parent-Teacher Associations of Tamil schools received a total of RM508,000 in aid.

Khalid said there were 97 Tamil schools with an enrolment of 34,000 pupils in Selangor and that 80% of the pupils came from families in the lower income group. — Bernama

The funds given (704k/31 schools) is about RM22,710 per school.  If same number of PTAs got the 508k allocation (508k/31 = RM16,387), then its RM39,097 per school. Not sure how that amount can help the schools.

Its clear that Tamil school problem needs a massive and immediate action from the Education Ministry and state governments in terms of financial allocation, land procurement, school relocation, and school status conversion, but it had not been happening as fast as it should be. Instead, its worse than snail’s pace.

In spite of all the shortcomings and problems faced by Tamil schools, 55% have done well in UPSR. That’s something to ponder about. And given the effort by the schools, parents, community and NGOs, hopefully the percentage increases year after year.

No comments »

Posted in Indian, Tamil-Schools

Tags:

lifeline for SJKT Ladang Bukit Bertam

December 24th, 2009
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Many people would have not heard about JKT Ladang Bukit Bertam till two days ago. This small estate school is quite low-profile (and under-enrolled). But surprisingly this school gave birth to one of our country’s first Harvard graduates – the late Datuk K.Pathmanaban, a former MIC vice-president and deputy minister. That his alma mater suffers this fate tells a lot about the status of Tamil schools and Indian community in the country.

The school which started in 1920s have been having low enrolment for last few years, which begets the question: what steps have been taken to alleviate the situation.  The school is located in the large Bukit Bertam Estate in Linggi. As with many other Indian enclaves in the past, the estate sees more foreign workers while the Indians move out to cities and towns. Unfortunately, the school doesn’t follow them too. So, what would you except other than dwindling enrolment? So, questions arise: what have been the Education Ministry and its agencies been doing all this while?

Up till yesterday, the school faced a possible closure. Now, would anyone be blamed if they thought that the inaction of the ministry and agencies is tantamount to aiming to close vernacular education? You don’t give enough money, you don’t take enough effort to convert them to fully-aided status, you don’t allow new schools to be built, and you are not bothered about relocation. So what does that mean? What would the public, especially the Indian community think? The action doesn’t reflect the words.

There are many schools with similar situation and its just a matter of time before a school closes down.

Oh ya, can blame the school right? Why never take action? Well, what action should the school take? Picket? HM to issue public statement and risk losing job?

What about MIC – what steps have they taken in last few years to solve this particular problem? We have to ask them since they are part of ruling state government for last 50 years. It seems that state MIC deputy leader V.S. Mogan will meet the state authorities.

Maybe its time for an Indian deputy education minister or minister to ensure some sort of balance is in place.

This is what the school parent-teacher association chairman D. Elangovan says, among others:

He said one pupil was supposed to join for the new term but her parents decided to enrol her in another school in Malacca.

Elangovan said that with foreigners making up most of the workers at the estate, it was pointless to maintain a Tamil school there.

“We hope the authorities will help us relocate to another place where the community needs a Tamil school. The school has teachers, textbooks and satellite TV and all these are being wasted,’’ he told The Star.

Elangovan said the school was located about 3km inside the sprawling oil palm plantation and this made it difficult for teachers.

The school moved to its present location from another site in the estate in 1978 with one class for each standard. But since then, the number of classes were reduced to only two as enrolment suffered.

Last year, there were only five pupils enrolled. This year, there were only three.

To make matters worse, Elangovan said the school had no canteen and its half-wooden structure was also unsafe due to termite infestation.

“Save SJKT Ladang Bukit Bertam School” ad hoc committee chairman Ramesh Patel suggested that it would be best if the school was relocated to nearby Kota, which had about 200 Indian families.

Luckily, 13 students registered yesterday, probably effort of teachers, PTA, parents, local MIC folks etc. to ensure the school can continue running for next year. Now, just to maintain the school, someone has to fork out extra cash to pay for transportation. Students have to study in  a school with termite infestation and no canteen.

Can you see something here: a poor community needs to part with funds to ensure the survival of a school for another year. Students have to be moved from another location and sacrificed to study in this school. This situation could have been averted if there was proper planning and action by the relevant authorities much earlier.

“Save SJKT Ladang Bukit Bertam” ad hoc committee chairman Ramesh Patel said 12 of the students would be ferried to the school from Rembau some 25km away every morning while another one was from the estate.

“We have no choice. It may be a temporary measure but it is the only way we can think of to keep the school going,” he said, adding that several parents contacted him after the school’s plight was highlighted in The Star yesterday.

… With the latest enrolment, the school will now have students in Year One up to Year Five.

Eight of the students are from the Vivekananda Home in Rembau while another four are from Batu Hampar.

State MIC deputy chief V. S. Mogan said the school’s sudden increase in enrolment was good news as it meant the school could continue to function as normal until its relocation was finalised.

“We are hoping to increase enrolment and are looking into getting students from Kota, Rembau to attend the school,” Mogan said.

“We have already identified some 30 students who are currently attending school in Tampin. This school is about the same distance away for these students and with free transportation it would be a better choice for them,” he said.

No comments »

Posted in Indian, Tamil-Schools

Tags: