Teo complains after just six Tamil schools get laptops

 

Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching has branded the government as discriminatory after the meagre distribution of laptops to the Tamil schools in the B40 category for online learning.

This comes after only six out of 527 Tamil vernacular schools (SJKT) received laptops from the government under its Cerdik programme.

“This is a clear mark of discrimination in the distribution of laptops to schools as according to the answer provided by the Ministry of Education, only six out of 527 SJKTs received laptops from the government.

“I will classify this as a vast injustice to the Indian community and such discriminatory distribution of essential devices for educational purposes in times of a pandemic should never happen,” Teo said in a statement today.

Only 406 out of 150,000 laptops were distributed to the Tamil schools nationwide, comprising only 0.27 percent of total laptops distributed, Teo said.

The schools that received the aid were: SJKT Taman Tun Aminah (215); SJKT LDG Temiang Rencong (11); SJKT LDG Chembong (21); SJKT Bharathi (46); SJKT Mahatma Gandhi Kalasalai (75); and SJKT Teluk Merbau (38).

“The total number of the student population in all streams of schools is 4.7 million nationwide.

“This means 1.7 percent of students in the system are from SJKT but they only received 0.27 percent of the laptops distributed,” she said.

Branding this as a “disservice to the concept of ‘Keluarga Malaysia’, Teo said that it was proven that Indians are statistically disadvantaged and deserve more aid from the government.

“Our education system is based on the premise that everyone should have meaningful access to education and no child should be left behind. Yet, Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government is not shy of neglecting this basic principle of education and governance.

“The current government’s acts and principles do not reflect the spirit of Keluarga Malaysia as claimed by the prime minister. The interest and needs of SJKT have been severely neglected and is a far cry from the ideal concept of fairness that a family would have,” she said.

Special maintenance allowance to Tamil schools reduced

Teo said the manner in which these laptops were distributed is not a tested method in fairness and equity and would not pass the test of equitable distribution of essential aid.

She also noted that the Perikatan Nasional government had reduced the special maintenance allowance for SJKT to RM28.9 million in 2021 from a standard RM50 million that has been distributed to the Indian community for many years.

She called on Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin to rectify the disparity in the distribution of laptops.

When tabling Budget 2021 in November 2020, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had said that GLCs and GLICs would contribute RM150 million into Cerdik fund to provide 150,000 laptops to students in 500 schools in a pilot project overseen by Yayasan Hasanah.

The project was initially criticised as its website stated that the students would be given the laptop on a loan basis.

It was criticised again by Teo and others when the deliveries were temporarily halted in June after the distribution of 13,000 laptops, despite initial plans for 50,000 students to get devices by the end of May - Mkini