Seaport pupils barred from UPSR

Tamil School Board alleges that the District Education Department practises discrimination.

PETALING JAYA: The Petaling District Education Department is barring six Seaport Tamil School students from the UPSR examination because they have refused to attend classes at the new premises in Kampung Lindungan.

The Malaysia Tamil Schools Board (MTSB) disclosed this today and accused the department of persecuting the students because their parents were protesting against the closure of the Seaport school.

The six are among 41 students, including 23 in pre-school classes, who have refused to move to the new site, about 4km away. They are attending classes conducted by volunteer teachers at the Seaport premises.

“On Monday, the parents met district education officers to get permission for their children to sit for the UPSR,” MTSB president R Kannan said. “But, the permission was denied.

“Why further punish the poor parents and students? Those students are already denied their right to proper education with the taking away of basic education aids like textbooks, the food programme, education funding, teachers and other facilities.”

Seaport Tamil School, which was instructed by the Education Ministry last December to transfer its amenities to Kampung Lindungan, was the last remaining Tamil school in Kelana Jaya.

Parents of the 41 students have joined forces with former students to form the Save Our School SJK(T) Seaport Movement (SOSS).

Kannan said the Education Department’s decision on Monday was an act of discrimination because in a similar case involving a Chinese school in Damansara several years ago, students were allowed to sit for the UPSR.

He noted that the education system does allow students to choose where they want to sit for examinations.

He urged the government to find a better solution to the current dispute than persecuting students.

Kannan accused Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan of pretending to be unaware of the issue.

“The MIC man is ignoring the Seaport Tamil School issue,” he said. “He is not answering the numerous memoranda and letters sent to him, even phone calls and text messages.”

He alleged that Kamalanathan lied when he said the school was not shutting down but being relocated.

“He hid the information that the new school was actually built as SJK(T) Kampung Lindungan as per the Public Works Department’s engineering specifications.”

Kannan said the Education Ministry, instead of obtaining a licence for the new premises, had taken the easy way out by “stealing” the Seaport school’s licence.