‘Inspect all Tamil schools immediately’

The Education Ministry must apologise for its negligence which resulted in the roof of a Tamil school collapsing.

KUALA LUMPUR: A furious DAP leader wants the Education Ministry to order the Public Works Department (PWD) to inspect all the 523 Tamil schools nationwide to prevent any further untoward incidences.

Sungkai assemblyman A Sivanesan was responding to reports that roofs in two Tamil schools  in Serdang and Simpang Morib had collapsed recently.

He said many Tamil schools were in the same situation as their buildings were very old.

“Most of the Tamil schools buildings were built during the British colonial period and  after 50 years the buildings are in deplorable condition and no more safe for student,” he told FMT.

Sivanesan,  who is the ex-Serdang Tamil School Parents Teacher Association (PTA) chairman, said Serdang Tamil School was formed in 1936.

He said in 1963, the federal government built a single story building for the school to accommodate its then 132 students.

As the student intake grew bigger, additional classes were built in the 80s and 90s.

In 2007 plan for more additions were approved but no attempts were made to pull down the old school building which continued to be in use to accommodate the new Standard One and Two student intake. The school currently has 700 students.

On Wednesday the roof of the school caved in and an upset Sivanesan said that it was caused by negligence on the part of the Education Ministry..

“The Education Ministry has been reluctant to replace the old building despite an inspection by PWD in 2002 which clearly indicated that the building is unsafe,” he said.

Ministry was aware of conditions
According to Sivanesan, on June 26, 2002, the school’s former headmaster K Ponniah had sent a letter to PWD urging them to inspect the old building and the toilet which were constructed in early 60′s.

“On July 27, we received a letter from PWD highlighting the leakage in the roof and the damaged wiring system.

“The school administration and PIBG sent several letters to the Selangor Education Department and Education Ministry seeking allocations for repairs.

“The ministry is aware of the seriousness of the matter but they kept ignoring our concerns for the safety of the student,” he said, adding that the ministry had consistently given excuses to avoid giving them a grant to replace the old building.

Now that the roof has collapsed, Sivanesan wants to know if the ministry will assume blame.

“Who is going to answer for the roof collapsing? What if it had fallen on the students?

“We’ve been asking for funds for the last 10 years. Why is the ministry reluctant to give us funds to take care of the school?” he asked.

He said the Serdang school was a fully government aided institution and demanded that the ministry publicaly apologise for its lackadaisical attitude and carelessness which had resulted in the collapse of the roof.