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Najib should explain what the  government  under a new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister proposes to do to ensure  fair and equal treatment in the building of new primary schools, whether national or Chinese primary schools, to meet increasing student demand completely devoid of political considerations?


Speech
-
DAP forum “The New Prime Minister’s Effect of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi” 
by Lim Kit Siang

(Kuala LumpurTuesday): The  political honeymoon period of the first 100 days of the new Prime Minister is not only a period of suspended judgment where  fine words and promises suffice as substitutes for action and results with heightened hopes and expectations, it is  also a period for  easy political make-beliefs when  critical examination of the new leader’s old team is virtually abandoned. 

This morning’s press, for instance,  gives the impression that the new  Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, is the new  champion of Chinese primary schools when he said that there will be no closure of “micro” Chinese primary schools, including  those  with  less than 10 pupils.  

According to data from Jiao Zong, in 2003, there were 81 Chinese primary schools with less than 30 pupils in the country -  22 Chinese primary schools with less than 10 pupils, 31 Chinese primary schools with 11-20 pupils; 28 Chinese primary schools with 21-30 pupils.   Out of 1,287 Chinese primary schools in the country, 501 schools have less than 150 pupils. 

The existence of “micro” Chinese primary schools with very low pupil enrolment is only one of the long list of protracted problems faced by Chinese primary schools in the country, as on the other end of the spectrum is the problem of serious overcrowding of pupils in Chinese primary schools and classes. 

In the new school year in Ipoh, for instance, 53 pupils are squeezed into one class in the Chinese primary schools, going against all educational principles and the Education Ministry’s “best practices” of 25-30 pupils for a class.  In Kuala Lumpur for 2002, the average pupil-per-class ratio for Chinese primary schools was 45 as compared to 30 for national primary schools and 26 for Tamil primary schools. 

It would be more meaningful for  Najib to  explain what the government under the leadership of a new Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister proposes to do  to ensure fair and equal treatment in the building of new primary schools, whether national or Chinese primary schools, to meet increasing student demand, completely devoid of political considerations!

In the three years after the 1999 general election, the unfair and inequitable construction of Chinese primary schools as compared to national primary schools continued unabated. 

Enrolment for national primary schools from 2,000 to 2003 increased by 52,910 pupils, i..e. from 2,193,582 to 3,246,492, which saw an increase of  171 new national primary schools – or an average of one new school for 308 new pupils.  In contrast, while enrolment in Chinese primary schools in the three years from 2,000 to 2003 increased by 9,468 pupils from 622,712 to 632,180, only one new Chinese primary school was built during this period, or one new Chinese primary school for an additional 9,468 pupils when 31 new Chinese primary schools should have been built if the Education Ministry had a fair and even-handed policy for the building of all primary schools based purely on increasing student demand. 

As the Education Minister from 1995-1999, Najib should understand the problems faced by Chinese primary schools, in particular the unfairness and  injustice of the failure to match the increase of Chinese primary school enrolment with new Chinese primary schools. 

In fact, based on the following statistics given in the Ten-Year Education Development Blueprint  2001-2010 prepared by the Education Ministry, during Najib’s tenure as Education Minister, the number of Chinese primary schools had actually fallen from 1,288 to 1,284 although Chinese primary school enrolment registered the biggest increase of 4.7% or 28,192 pupils:           

Jadual 2.1: Bilangan Sekolah, Kelas dan Enrolmen Sekolah Rendah pada Tahun 1995 dan 2000

Jenis

Sekolah

Bilangan Sekolah

+/-

(%)

Bilangan Kelas

+/-

(%)

Enrolmen

+/-

(%)

1995

2000

1995

2000

1995

2000

SK 5141 5393 4.9 63243 71349 12.8 2100638 2193582 4.4
SJKC 1288 1284 -0.3 16651 17729 6.4 594520 622712 4.7
SJKT 538 526 -2.2 4157 4072 -2.0 102259 88805 -13.1
SK Khas 26 28 7.6 268 298 11.1 2327 2024 -13.0
Jumlah 6993 7231 3.4 84319 93448 10.8 2799744 2907123 3.8

Sumber: Penerangkaan Pendidikan Malaysia, BPPDP 1995 dan 2000

(13/1/2004)


* Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman