COMMENT This is in response to the comments made by Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang Dr P Ramasamy, in the article ‘Trajectory of Tamil education in Malaysia’ which was published in Malaysiakini on March 23, 2016.

It is indeed disheartening to assume or to conclude that Tamil schools are in a sad state of affairs even after 60 years of independence. Since 2009, more than RM700 million have been allocated and most of it have been used to significantly improve the infrastructure and basic facilities of Tamil schools nationwide.

Since 2012, RM250 million have been allocated under the Special Stimulus Packages by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for the infrastructure and basic facilities development of Tamil schools.

From the stimulus packages, all 523 Tamil schools have benefitted in one form or another, especially in the upgrading of basic facilities. Additionally, more than 21 Tamil schools were provided with new blocks of buildings with classrooms and other up-to-date facilities including computers.

Besides that, under the 2012 allocation, a total of 18 Tamil schools are being relocated to areas under rapid development with large Indian Malaysian population. This is to ensure the schools are situated in areas with large Indian Malaysian population. We must acknowledge the fact that student enrollment in estates and plantation has been on a drastic decline due to the migration of Indian Malaysians to townships and cities, as they seek greener pastures.

Beyond infrastructural development, the government has also provided resources in terms of improving the quality of educators and the enhancement of administrative structure of these Tamil schools.

The fact that many Tamil schools were not managed effectively led to the poor upkeep and decline. Acknowledging this issue, the government in response provided funds through the Socio-Economic Development of the Indian Community (Sedic) to assist in creating board of governors in schools.

Furthermore, this unit called Sedic which is under the Prime Minister’s department, to complement the initiatives taken by the Education Ministry, invited training providers to propose programs to further strengthen the professionalism of Tamil school teachers and headmasters. Many programmes are currently on-going to mediate the decline as pointed out by Dr Ramasamy.

Enrolment in Tamil schools

With the total transformation of Tamil schools initiated by the prime minister by requesting to produce and implement a comprehensive Action Plan for the Future of Tamil Schools, all Tamil schools in the country have recorded and continue to record significant improvement in all aspects.

The Tamil schools have recorded significant improvement in academic achievement almost in all subjects starting the year 2009. The Tamil schools have successfully arrested the decline in the enrolment of Year 1 students largely due to the decline in the birth rate in the community and in fact have managed to increase the numbers in the last three years.

The government is aware of this issue, which is prevalent in urban schools and has taken appropriate initiatives to overcome this problem. These initiatives include providing extra blocks with sufficient classrooms and other amenities. For an example, under the 2012 Budget, 21 Tamil schools were provided with extra blocks with classrooms and other amenities.

There are also initiatives under way to build new blocks with special funding from the prime minister in government Tamil schools. With a special allocation of RM20 million from the prime minister, 13 such projects were undertaken and 9 have successfully completed the extra blocks in their respective schools.

We are also happy to note that the prime minister has approved seven new licenses for seven new schools to be built. One school was recently completed and is fully operational in Kedah, which is SJKT Ko Saranggapani in Lunas, Kedah. Another six schools are under various construction phases and are expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

Conclusion

While acknowledging there are rooms for improvement in the ecosystem of Tamil Schools, we have to take stock of the progress we have made thus far. As Dr Ramasamy has correctly pointed out some shortcomings, we are aware and are working hard to develop various initiatives to provide for a better education for all our children in Tamil schools.

We draw strength from the commitment made by the prime minister to not only safeguard vernacular schools, but to thrive diligently in providing high quality education to all our children.

Establishing the Action Plan for Tamil Schools (PTST) Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department to monitor Tamil school issues and to develop a blueprint to chart a bright future for Tamil schools by itself is a clear demonstration by our prime minister of his unwavering commitment.

We welcome the comments by Dr Ramasamy and encourage others to contact us for further clarification on Tamil Schools.

PROF DR NS Rajendran is coordinator, Pelan Tindakan Masa Depan Sekolah Tamil (PTST), Prime Minister’s Department.