Kick out BN to save vernacular schools

FMT Staff | March 2, 2012

DAP Senator S Ramakrishnan urges Pakatan Rakyat to bring vernacular schools into the mainstream education system.

PETALING JAYA: Vote out Barisan Nasional and get Pakatan Rakyat to include vernacular schools in the mainstream education system to salvage mother tongue education, said DAP Senator S Ramakrishnan.

In a blog posting, Ramakrishnan said currently there was no unit at the Education Ministry to oversees implementation of any development programmes for Tamil and Chinese schools.

“Najib can announce building of new schools and so on, but which unit at the Education Ministry is in charge of making sure the plans are carried out?” asked Ramakrishnan.

On Tuesday, the NST quoted Najib in a report saying that over the past three years, the government had spent RM340 million on Tamil schools nationwide.

Najib was reported to have said this at a Ponggal celebration in Kapar on Sunday.

However, Hindraf Makkal Sakthi leader P Uthayakumar dismissed Najib’s claims, saying Tamil schools like the one in Jalan Tajol in Kota Tinggi has no canteen or a proper working toilet despite being a fully aided vernacular school.

On Tamil schools, Ramakrishnan said the government was only concerned over the status of national schools and had left the vernacular school at the mercy of MIC.

“The docile political party is given the responsibility to coordinate with various ministries to build or repair the schools.

“With Umno dominating the Education Ministry, Tamil and Chinese schools are left with no one to turn to and this how Umno controls the vernacular schools,” said Ramakrishnan.