I hope MIC’s commitment becomes a reality, and not remain just a commitment. I wonder where’s the plan (if there is one) which details the timeline for relocation of the under-enrolled schools. I’m sure we would like to know the roadmap or timeline for relocation of each and every school mentioned, the budget applied/allocated/received/spent, plus the status progress so far. Tha would be a good indication of “commitment”.
MIC is committed to relocating Tamil schools with low enrolment to new areas with many Indian residents.
MIC deputy president Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said there were 14 schools which had fewer than 10 pupils and 69 schools with fewer than 25 pupils.
“We have told Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak that MIC needs a big financial allocation to tackle the problem.
“I have also raised the matter in the Cabinet that no Tamil schools are to be closed but only relocated,” he told reporters after a party seminar themed “Energising Indian Cooperatives”, which was opened by MICpresident Datuk G. Palanivel here yesterday.
Subramaniam said MIC was identifying suitable sites to relocate some Tamil schools and was confident this would cause the enrolment to rise.
He also denied a Tamil newspaper report saying that Sekolah Rendah Tamil Horvad, in Gurun, Kedah, would be closed because of poor attendance. He said a suitable site was being identified for the school.
He was confident that the Indian community would continue to support MIC to ensure Tamil schools continued to exist.
It is estimated that there are 107,000 pupils in 523 Tamil schools nationwide.
Subramaniam conceded that there were weaknesses in the process of improving and constructing additional buildings for Tamil schools.
“The financial allocations for Chinese schools are given straight to the school organising committees but it is a different case for Tamil schools,” he said.
source: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/9/25/nation/9571598&sec=nation