No aid: PTAs shell MIC

Several Parent Teachers' Associations of partially-aided Tamil schools deprived of government aid vent their frustration on MIC.

PETALING JAYA: Several partially-aided Tamil schools’ Parent Teachers’ Associations (PTA) in Selangor and Perak have decried MIC’s decision to drop their schools from receiving government aid.

Ladang West Country (Timur) Tamil school PTA chairman M Vinayagamurthy said it was not right for the largest Indian political party to strike out his school from the list.

“What did we do wrong? Our student number is increasing and there is lack of space for them to study. This is not right,” he told FMT.

The school has about 400 students and was supposed to receive RM500,000 for maintenance works.

On Monday, SS2 Tengah MIC branch chairman S Padnmanagan accused party president G Palanivel of depriving allocations to 145 partially-aided Tamil schools in the country.

“In the original list presented to the Cabinet in February, it was stated that RM100 million allocation would be channelled to 369 partially-aided Tamil schools nationwide for three categories, namely maintenance and upgrade, building additional blocks and building new schools.

“But in a revision done by MIC in May, the party leadership reduced the number of schools to 224. What happened to the rest?” asked Padnmanagan.

However, MIC Youth chief T Mohan defended his boss, saying the funds were handled by the Education Ministry and the party merely prepared the list of schools in need of aid.

Vinayagamurthy said the school’s administration and the PTA did a lot of work to get the funding.

“We want to know why this happened. If the government had allocated the sum for us, why was it not given? Give us a reason,” he said.

MIC should not handle funds
Ladang Rinching Tamil School PTA chairman R Chandran was more vocal, saying that MIC should not handle funds for Tamil schools from now on.

“If the government has decided to help us, who is MIC to stop it?’” he asked.

His school has about 500 students and was supposed to receive RM140,000 for roof repairs, upgrading its classrooms and plumbing works for its toilets.

Chandran urged the government to allocate the funds straight to the PTAs in future.

“We are prepared to be audited on a regular basis but do allocate the aid to us. Come and visit my school and see for yourself how badly we are in need of government aid,” he said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by a St Philomena Convent Tamil School PTA official.

“I’m not surprised. We were promised RM85,000 earlier and it was also announced by newspapers that we have received it but till now, we have seen nothing,” said the official who wished to remain anonymous.

He added that so far only MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek had fulfilled his promise, when he allocated RM20,000 for the school for some repair works.

“As for this case, I don’t understand why MIC needs to drop our school if the government has approved funds for us,” he said.

The school has about 400 students and was supposed to receive RM15,000 for maintenance works.

However, Ladang Changkat Salak Tamil School PTA chairman M Sathiaseelan defended MIC, saying that the party and the government had helped procure funds for the school annually.

“We received RM8,000 grant for our school and another additional RM5,000 just recently. Probably they withdrew the funds to help other schools which are in dire need,” he said.

Sathiaseelan’s school has about 50 students and was supposed to receive RM15,000 for maintenance works.

Palanivel is also the MIC chairman for both Selangor and Perak.