Abrupt closure of private school leaves parents scrambling

 

Parents are upset with a private school in Shah Alam after it abruptly announced its closure, leaving them scrambling to find other schools for their children before the new school year begins. (Rawpixel pic)

PETALING JAYA: A private school in Shah Alam has come under fire after it abruptly announced its closure, leaving parents scrambling to find other schools for their children before the new school year begins.

Parents were told of the closure via a chat message notice on Feb 15 evening, said Shestri Ganesh, one of those with a child at the school.

The notice said the last day of school would be May 15 and that the school had been financially crippled by the measures taken to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

FMT is awaiting a response from the school management.

Shestri Ganesh says news about the school’s closure caught him by surprise.

The notice gave parents a list of several schools as options for them to transfer their children.

“The notice caught me by surprise. To make matters worse, it also informed parents that a town hall meeting was to be held the next day at 9am,” said Shestri.

With less than 24 hours’ notice, he said that many parents were not able to attend the town hall meeting and only about 100 showed up.

He said the school’s management did not provide any data on its financial position or any other information to help the parents understand the situation better.

“Why did they bother sending parents an invoice for school fees in Dec 2021 for the next year if they knew they could not carry on business? Why did they continue to register new students up until February?”

Another parent known as Hafiza told FMT that she was very upset with the way the school handled the situation. “They should have told us much earlier so that we could make necessary arrangements,” she said.

She said she had to scramble to place her 15-year-old son in another school. “It has been such a headache, so close to the start of the new term in March, and it feels like the school just washed their hands clean,

“I think the school’s management has been irresponsible, I feel as if I’ve been scammed.”

She said that just like the other parents, she was still waiting for the school to refund the fees she paid in advance for this year. - FMT