KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has approved yet another allocation, of RM20 million, to build or repair 13 fully-aided national type Tamil schools nationwide, said the coordinator for the Action Plan for Future of Tamil Schools, Prof Dr N.S. Rajendran.
The allocation, given last week, was to cater to the urgent need for infrastructure development of the schools, he said, but did not identify the schools. The fund was over and above the RM100-million allocation given under Budget 2013, he added.
In the 2013 budget, Najib, who is also the finance minister, had provided an additional special allocation of RM100 million for national type Tamil schools for new sites, additional school blocks and upgrading work. Since 2009, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government had allocated a total of RM540 million for Tamil schools, Rajendran told Bernama in an interview at his office, recently.
He said that for the first time, the prime minister had agreed to hand over the allocation to the respective governing boards of the schools.
“My team and I will assist and monitor the progress,” he said. Rajendran said the era of Datuk Seri Najib was a glorious one for Tamil schools as the prime minister himself had given the assurance that the government would continue to develop Tamil schools.
“PM Najib is described as the Father of the Tamil Schools Transformation, and he (Najib) is the best person to solve the Tamil schools’ woes,” he said. Between 2009 and 2013, the government allocated a whopping RM540 million for the development of Tamil schools through its Special Government Programme, with RM340 million spent between 2009 and 2011 and RM100 million in 2012. Another RM100 million is to be spent this year.
The government, through the Community Chest – an independent charitable organisation, had distributed RM9.139 million to Tamil schools nationwide, even in states held by the opposition. On the seven new national type Tamil primary schools, Rajendran said SJKT Paya Besar, Lunas (Kedah), had been under construction since last year while the six others would be built later this year or early next year.
The six are SJKT Taman Keladi, Sungai Petani, Kedah; SJKT Heawood Estate, Sungai Siput, Perak; SJKT Taman Sentosa, Klang, Selangor; SJKT Taman PJS1, Petaling Jaya, Selangor; SJKT Bandar Mahkota, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur; and SJKT
Bandar Seri Alam, Masai, Johor.
“The RM100 million allocated in 2012 is being mainly channelled towards building the seven new Tamil schools,” he said.
Rajendran said that besides the total RM560 million, Najib had approved some monetary assistance to purchase, among others, a piece of land (RM320,000) for SJKT Ladang Tebung, Melaka, and put up a new block (RM290,000) for SJKT Semenyih, Selangor, after the school’s termite-ridden ceiling collapsed.
BERNAMA
