Lau addressing the huge crowd at the event.
SIBU: Parents are opening their eyes to the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) conducted by Chinese private schools because they see it as providing their children with great opportunities to pursue higher learning globally.
Speaking at the SM Wong Nai Siong Night at Sibu Gateway on Saturday, chairman of the school’s board of directors Temenggong Datuk Vincent Lau said over 800 universities in the world were opening their doors to UEC graduates.
He said of the 200 top universities in the world, 70 accepted these graduates, and these included renowned universities in USA, England, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Japan and other countries.
At the home front, he said parents’ confidence was further boosted after the state government accepted UEC graduates into its workforce.
“SM Wong Nai Siong has surged, achieving breakthroughs in concerted efforts with the former students’ body, the board of directors and the community. We are keeping up with time, and we have built both soft and hardware development.”
Although SM Wong Nai Siong is a Chinese school, he said it focused on the mastering of three languages – Mandarin, English and Bahasa Malaysia, which are the foundation for nation-building.
Lau thanked parents for sending their children to the Chinese private school.
He said all Chinese private schools in Sibu had been aggressively recruiting students, adding beginning 2011, the schools had been coming together annually for mass recruitment campaigns apart from doing their individual recruitment exercise.
He said the SM Wong Nai Siong Night had been held for the past five years to promote Chinese education.
“This is also a night of goodwill for students of various schools to get together, exposing their talent in singing and opportunities in learning together. This is also a night for parents to know the school.”
The night, dubbed ‘Stars of the Schools’, saw singing competition for primary and secondary school students.
Apart from that, SM Wong Nai Siong students staged choral singing, cultural dances, solos, street dances and group performances displaying school life.
In his speech, school principal Lu Yew Hiung said the school was built almost half a century ago to promote and preserve Chinese culture.
Academically, he said the school had groomed countless students and produced well-rounded human resource.
He also said its students not only excelled in academics but also in co-curricular activities like wushu, debate and sports.
“SM Wong Nai Siong stresses on character building. We also set up a multi-million ringgit education foundation for students pursuing higher learning and other benefits to take care of students from lower income families and those from families with single parents.”
The Sibu Foochow Association and its sub-Foochow clans had been supporting the SM Wong Nai Siong Night for the past five years.
The event this year was hosted with Sarawak Sibu Min Hau Association – one of the ten Foochow sub-clans.
Also present were Sibu Chinese Private School Board of Management Association chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King and the event organising chairman, Kong Chong Meu.