SIBU: The five Chinese independent secondary schools here have enrolled a total of 486 new students for the new academic year which began on Jan 2.
It is a record of sorts as the number of new enrolments in previous years had hardly touched 400.
The five Chinese independent secondary schools are SM Catholic High, SM Wong Nai Siong, SM Citizen, SM Guong Ming and SM Kian Hin.
Last year, the total number of intakes from these schools was 375. In earlier years, the numbers were between 200 and 300.
This year, as expected, SM Catholic High recorded the highest intake with 296 students, followed by SM Wong Nai Siong with 103, SM Citizen, 35, SM Guong Ming, 30, and SM Kian Hin, 22.
For SM Catholic High, it was a significant jump from the 200 registered in 2012 to 296 this year.
SM Wong Nai Siong too saw a jump from 94 in 2012 to 103 this year. The school is expecting a handful more enrolments in the next few days.
It was a record of sorts for SM Citizen which, in the past eight years, had never registered more than 30 enrolments.
This year, it has already enrolled 35 as compared to 21 in 2012.
SM Guong Ming expects the number of new enrolments to touch 35 in a few days’ time.
The number stands at 30 now, but five students from Peninsular Malaysia are expected to join the school next week.
Last year, the school also enrolled a total of 35 new students.