Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email I think the community is getting bored with the excuses given by the concerned parties. In tamil we say “arache mave arachikitte” (grinding flour which has been ground already).
We know that nearly 2/3 of schools are in private land. Many of them are in GLC land. How difficult is it for these companies to exhibit some CSR and donate a piece of land to the school? Even if we talk about one school in a year, in the last 10 years, a plantation firm would have helped 10 schools. Multiply that by 3 companies = 30 schools converted to fully-aided in 10 years. That would have been something proud. But, in reality, how many schools were converted to fully-aided status in last 10 years? What is the effort done by our “guardian of tamil schools”? What is the effort of the relevant ministries, taskforces, committees, leaders, foundations etc? We have so many committees and leaders talking. But no output. Only “policies”, “principle agreements” and other sweet words that causes “mind” diabetes.
I think the next election manifesto of party that has a measurable pledge – To convert 50 Tamil schools to fully-aided in 5 years” should get the community support. No one is interested in catchy words, ideals, abstract promises, and nice-to-hear pledges. What we want is quantifiable/measurable statements.
To be fair to Vallikannu, he is just an employee reading out a speech. I’m sure if he was a millionaire, he would have given a hundred thousand ringgit at least to buy land for some Tamil school.
Those concerned with tamil schools should initiate dialogues with land owners and PPD to facilitate smooth transfer of land. The relevant departments should also cooperate and not put up hurdles to discourage such efforts.
THE delay in converting partly-aided Tamil schools into fully-aided ones is due to the schools being located on private land, reported Tamil Nesan.
Selangor Tamil school coordinator R. Vallikannan was quoted as saying that the government had imposed a condition that the land must be registered in the name of the school before it can become a fully-aided school.
He said some school managements and Parent-Teacher Associations were not aware who owned the school land.
Vallikannan added that the school management must get the necessary forms from the district education department and submit them with the necessary particulars to enable the department to take the steps to transfer the land to the school.
In Selangor, he said, only one Tamil school had managed to transfer the land to its name.
