PUTRAJAYA must stop preventing opposition lawmakers from visiting schools, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh said today.

Yeoh said she is not allowed into schools in her constituency, which she said she must do to check on the progress of infrastructure projects funded by the federal government. 

“How can I ensure the upgrading of infrastructure construction work at schools are completed properly and according to the standards set if I am not allowed to enter the school to see the existing condition, the repair work on site and the completed work?” the former deputy women, family and community development minister said in a statement today. 

Yeoh said the Education Ministry’s refusal to allow opposition lawmakers into schools is a a clear example of the government’s failure to enable coordination between ita agencies.

She expressed her frustration that government party representatives were allowed into schools but not elected officials. 

“In Segambut, Barisan Nasional representatives are allowed to go in and out of the school but I, who won the election (and was) legally elected to represent the people there and (who) approved the provision for the school, was asked to stand outside the school gate and no pictures of the (handing over) of cheques or site visits were allowed inside the school area,” she said. 

Following the signing of an MOU for reform between the federal government and Pakatan Harapan (PH), Yeoh said the ban on opposition lawmakers visiting schools should no longer apply.

“It is absurd, unfair and even causes educators in schools to be in a tough situation and scared,” she said.

“I was saddened to see the headmasters and school principals frightened when they saw me at the school gate, who had come to see the repair work that had been completed. 

“This does not reflect well on the teaching staff, who should be allowed to do what is right”.

Hannah urged Education Minister Radzi Jidin to immediately issue instructions to allow opposition MPs to enter the school grounds for site visits and attend official functions on which the lawmakers had spent their government allocations.

“The minister of education should welcome the presence of opposition MPs to the school because we help ease the ministry’s burden of ensuring that the infrastructure in the school is repaired for the comfort of the students,” she said.  

Opposition MPs were banned from schools by the Barisan Nasional regime.

During the PH era, then education minister Maszlee Malik had said that opposition MPs must get approval from the state education authorities before they would be allowed into schools. – August 16, 2022.