Chinese independent schools prefer grants to alienated land

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KUCHING: The Board of Management for Kuching Chung Hua Middle School No.1, 3 and 4 hopes the state government will allocate annual grants for Chinese independent schools throughout Sarawak.

Its chairman Richard Wee said the Sarawak state government’s unwillingness to give monetary assistance to Chinese independent schools hurts.

Although various boards of management of Chinese independent schools were grateful that Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud had last year announced alienating 2,000 hectares of land for them, thus far no details had been forthcoming.

“We do follow up on the announcement every now and then but there is no good or specific news as yet,” Wee said when contacted here yesterday.
In announcing the news last Dec 17 during a dialogue with the Chinese community, Taib said the gesture was meant to reduce the financial burden of Chinese independent schools.

He added that the schools would also be exempted from paying land lease renewal premium.

Wee said he had heard that the state government would most likely alienate a piece of land in Kapit for the purpose.

“There is no official confirmation yet…we are all waiting for the government to announce it. But we did learn that all the 2,000 hectares of land promised will be in Kapit.”

He said the board had written to the Chief Minister’s Department to obtain the latest development on the pledged land. The board had also sourced information from the relevant departments and agencies but to no avail.

“We have been trying to get the latest information and we also followed up with SUPP leaders.”

Last Sunday, the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia or Dong Zong said only Chinese independent schools in Sarawak, Perak and Kuala Lumpur had yet to receive annual grants from their respective state governments.

Its chairman Dr Yap Sin Tien said Chinese independent schools in Selangor, Penang, Melaka, Sabah, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Kedah and Kelantan had been receiving annual grants from their state governments since the general election in 2008.

Responding to this, Wee said: “That is the hard truth. It is not a shame to say that most school boards prefer grants to alienated land.”

Asked how much the state government would have to fork out if it were to pledge systematic annual grants for Chinese independent schools in Sarawak, he said it depended on the size and needs of the school.

“Give and take, RM500,000 is required to run each school. Some schools need about a million ringgit every year, it really depends on the school itself.

“Let’s have a rough calculation that each school needs RM1 million and there are 14 Chinese independent schools in Sarawak, meaning RM14 million a year will be sufficient.”

Wee felt that RM14 million a year to the state government would not mean a great deal, especially for the purpose of education.