SIBU: The United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) reiterated its call to the Ministry of Education to consider giving credentials to Chinese private middle schools’ Junior and Senior Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
PRESS CONFERENCE: Dr Yap (left) and Lau at the press conference.
Dong Zong, according to its chairman Dr Yap Sin Tian, has submitted a memorandum pertaining to the matter to the ministry several times before.
“We have submitted our memorandum several times and last year we have also met with the Deputy Prime Minister (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) to convey our view on the same matter and submitted the same memorandum again,” he said.
Yet, he said, there seemed to be no signal of approval from the ministry.
“We hope the government could give recognition to UEC, which if approved, can be the entry requirements for graduates of Chinese private schools to enter public institutions of higher learning in the country as well as a ticket into public sector.
“We are still waiting for the good news from the government,” he said.
According to Dr Yap, while UEC is not accepted as one of the requirements to enter the public sector and public universities in the country, it is well accepted in other countries like Singapore, United Kingdom and Australia. He said this during a press conference at a hotel here yesterday.
Also present was Sarawak United Association of Chinese School Boards of Management (SUACSBM) chairman Vincent Lau and Dong Zong members.
On another front, Dr Yap said Dong Zong will conduct a survey after the Chinese New Year celebration to study the sudden increase in student intake into Chinese private middle schools this year. He said a total of 60,481 students had enrolled into 60 schools throughout the country this year, the highest so far. Over the years, he said the number was increasing but for this year, due to limited classrooms and facilities the schools had to reject about 2,600 students.
Of the 2,600, about half were those who applied for four schools in Kuala Lumpur, 800 in Johor and the rest in Melaka and other states. Dr Yap was in town as part of his mission to see Chinese private schools in the state. He also visited one such school in Pontianak in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Vincent Lau also spoke at the press conference, and he expressed his gratitude to Dong Zong for its concern for Chinese private schools in the state.
He hoped that from the visit Dong Zong could work together with SUACSBM in helping Chinese private schools in the state.
SUACSBM, he said, could not do the job alone as its scope of work is not as wide as that of Dong Zong.
“We hope Dong Zong would work with us in areas like providing training for teachers, management of schools, upgrading of capabilities, involvement of boards of directors and more,” he said.
Lau also hoped that with Dong Zong’s help, SUACSBM could strengthen the performance of the association in every aspect beneficial to Chinese private schools in the state. For the record, Sarawak has the highest number of Chinese private middle schools in the country with 14 schools.