Friday October 22, 2010
Off to school where snakes roam
By MANJIT KAUR
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NIBONG TEBAL: For more than eight years, pupils of SJK(T) Ladang Batu Kawan have been studying in the houses of four estate clerks and two metal cabins. The makeshift classrooms are not conducive for lessons, and just last week, a 1.5m-long snake was seen in the library. The “school” is located in an oil palm estate with no proper facilities.
Parents are upset that the 125 pupils are studying in a “cowshed” environment. When The Star visited the school yesterday, headmaster R. Kalidass told the reporter and photographer to leave. However, a group of parents who gathered outside the school said they wanted to know when a new building would be constructed.
Parent A. Govindasamy, 45, a store-keeper at a factory in Juru said a letter was sent on Oct 7 to state Education Department Director Ibrahim Mohamad, with copies to Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom and Deputy director-general (Education Operations) Datuk Noor Rezan Bapoo Hashim.
He and another parent R. Balasundar handed over a memorandum to state Education Department deputy director’s special assistant Noor Shahridzuan Azmi on Wednesday as both the director and deputy director were not available.
Govindasamy said the school’s wooden structure had burned down about eight years ago, and they were told that the pupils would be placed in the houses until a proper double-storey building was constructed. “But it has been more than eight years. How are they going to study in such an environment?,” asked the visibly upset father.
B. Matharasi, 33, a housewife said five of her children were studying at the school were aged between seven and 12. “My eldest son was the one who saw the snake, which I think was a cobra near the library area,” she added. The school’s PTA chairman G. Dumani, 48, said that fully-aided status was granted by the Education Ministry in September 2008.
He said Barisan Nasional Batu Kawan parliamentary coordinator A. Mohan was helping to resolve the matter. Mohan said the state Education Department visited the school last week. “I was told that a 0.8ha piece of land which is 1km away from the old site had been allocated for a new school building when Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon was Chief Minister,’’ he said.
