BAU: The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research has yet to receive feedback from board members of independent Chinese schools and mission schools across the state on the proposal to replace their under-enrolled schools with centralised schools.
Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin said he had met with representatives of these schools, but he had yet to receive the final answer.
In this regard, he said he – together with the state Education Department – would arrange for another meeting with them, in view of the high number of under-enrolled independent Chinese schools.
“The main worry of these independent Chinese schools is the probability of them losing their licences should they close the schools.
“But I told them that even if they had closed their schools, they could always transfer their licences and setup new schools,” he told reporters after the launch of Bau District ‘Speak English Every Day’ (SEED) programme at SK Jagoi here yesterday.
Manyin pointed out that it was true that if they closed their schools and didn’t make use of them, they would automatically lose their licences.
“When I met them the other day, some of them were quite positive though a few were still reserved about centralisation.
“The same applies to mission schools. I have yet to hear from the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist schools. I have met all of them, but there’s still no final answer from them,” he said.
As for government schools, Manyin said after several meetings and discussions with the Education Department and Public Works Department (JKR) on centralised schools, they ‘more or less’ came to the agreement that they would like to begin with ‘one centralised school for one rural constituency’.
He said this would become a model and those still reluctant to join, could see it later on if such move would be good for them.
Last month, the data provided by the state Education Department revealed that 651 primary schools had fewer than 150 students, while another 1,004 schools had student population below 300 each.