Lately, I have been visiting Chinese schools in kawasan Bayan Baru, Bayan Lepas, Sungai Ara area to process their application for state funding. Chinese Schools, Missionary schools, Tamil Schools and Sekolah Agama Rakyat are often sidelined by the Education Ministry. Many schools’ condition are far from satisfactory.
Teachers, parents and board of directors’ often tell us their stories of knocking door to door to get donations. Time is wasted to raise funds rather than educating the kids. When I was a kid, I remember I went house to house to get RM1 - RM5 donations. These are true but sad stories of our schools.
No child should be left behind. Schools are important institutions in our society. Ministry should be fair to allocate funding to schools. But, before we realized the so called “1Malaysia”, the Penang State Government are doing his best to help alleviate the hardship of these schools.
It is not easy for State Gov to come up with these funds, the federal gov has not been very generous to us, to say the least. So, we have to cut costs in our spending, we stop leakages and corruption. With CAT principles, we managed to save money for the state. These saving has been diverted to many popular social programs such Senior Citizen Program, hardcore poor programs, as well as the special allocation for schools.
This year, the state gov has allocated RM 5.8 mil for SRJKC, RM 1.75 mil for missionary schools, RM1.75 mil for SRJKT. We hope that with these state funding, the schools will get temporary relief from the difficulties to get federal funding.
One of my visit to school is reported today in the Star:
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/2/2/north/5587012&sec=North
MISSIONARY, religious, Chinese and Tamil schools in Penang should come up with their own initiative to raise funds instead of depending on allocations from the state government.
“The state government began giving allocations to such schools last year. But, the school heads must bear in mind that the allocation was only a supplement.
“The schools are expecting a higher allocation this year. Penang is not a rich state and the state government can only do so much,” Penang Chinese Education Affairs Coordinating Committee member Sim Tze Tzin said.
Speaking to reporters after a discussion with SRJK (C) Chung Shan’s board of directors and representatives of Parents-Teacher Association at the school in Bayan Lepas on Saturday, Sim suggested that such schools apply for funding from the Federal Government.
On SRJK (C) Chung Shan’s request for an RM120,000 allocation to repair leaking roofs and upgrading of amenities, Sim, who is Pantai Jerejak assemblyman, said the committee would discuss the school’s application.
Sim said SRJK (C) Wen Khai and SRJK (C) Chong Cheng had also applied for RM700,000 and RM250,000 in aid respectively from the committee.
It was earlier reported that the state had allocated RM11.3mil to 124 missionary, religious, Chinese and Tamil schools this year compared to RM8.5mil last year.
The funds are meant for maintenance and upgrading of amenities, but some of the school representatives suggested that they be allowed to buy desktop computers and send some of their teachers for courses to upgrade their skills and knowledge.
