Pay more attention to the feeling of parents in student placement

DAP National Deputy Chairman and MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw urges the Malaysian Education Ministry to consider the views and feeling of parents before placing students in particular schools in the whole country.

Many Year VI students at SJK(C) Jinjang Utara have been placed in SMK Menjalara for either Form I or Remove next year. This school is over five miles away from Jinjang. Parents are unhappy because there is SMK Jinjang; some are staying very near the school.

I have just raised this issue with the Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein who is replying to questions raised on his ministry during the 2006 Budget debate in Parliament today. The minister should pay more attention to this problem of student placement.

This issue occurs every year in the whole country. Popular schools such as SMK Jinjang and SMK Kepong Baru are bursting at the seams. Next year, the school will have 12 Form I classes and 4 Remove classes with each class having 40-46 students. Yet, as there are several primary schools in Jinjang, the school cannot cope. Parents are requesting that the Education Department increases the number of classes in SMK Jinjang further.

Other schools such as SMK Raja Abdullah, Jinjang South, SMK Raja Ali, 5th Mile Ipoh Road and SMK Menjalara are less popular. They can take in more students.

I have contacted Encik Hamzah at the Education Department, KL, over the matter. The person in charge of registration of students is Encik Abdul Malik, telephone 62036326.

Treat all students who are Malaysian citizens equally.

Datuk Hishamuddin should also look into the matter in which students, who are citizens, have to fill in forms and pay a fee of RM240 at the department for permission to continue with their education. These students have fathers who are citizens, but mothers who are not. Since they are citizens, why should they be treated differently? SMK Jinjang has given a letter to such parents for them to go to the department to obtain the permission.