SOME 140 under-enrolled Tamil schools in the country need urgent relocation to ensure they are not shuttered for good, activist Arun Dorasamy said.

Arun, who leads the Centre for Vernacular School Excellence, said failure to relocate these schools would put them in danger of facing an “irreversible natural death”.

“In the last 40 years, there has been a massive migration of Indians from rural and estates to urban areas, where almost 89% of the Indian population are now living in towns.

“Meanwhile, 67% of Tamil schools are still located in estates and rural areas, with 62% of the these schools sitting on land belonging to the estate,” he said.

These schools were left behind and are paying the price now for the demographic changes.

Arun said based on the group’s data, which were collected over the past year, there are about 140 schools – from the total number of 529 Tamil schools nationwide – that have fewer than 30 students.

“This means the entire school, from years one to six, has only 30 students or fewer,” said Arun, who is also the chairperson for the Indira Gandhi Action Team (Ingat).

“Among the reasons is that in places where there are Tamil schools, there are no Indians living there, and in areas with Indians, there aren’t any Tamil schools.

“This is the main issue behind Tamil schools with under-enrolment.”

Latest statistics showed there are 529 Tamil primary schools with 85,669 students.

There are approximately 2.75 million Indians in Malaysia, constituting about 9% of Malaysia’s population. About 2 million Indian Malaysians speak Tamil, while a sizeable number speak Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi.

Relocation master plan

Arun said he and 87 Tamil schools along with education-based civil society groups, have conducted studies on Tamil schools in Malaysia.

Based on the study, they discovered that there is a need to have a total of 147 new Tamil schools in the country.

Arun said that some areas like Johor Baru, Petaling Jaya, Klang and central Perak are in need of more Tamil schools because there is demand for them.

“For example, there are some Tamil schools in Johor Baru where there are almost 2,000 students.

“Almost 5% or 21 Tamil schools have two sessions to accommodate the large number of students.

“In some areas, it is difficult to get placements in Tamil schools, especially in heavily populated places like Petaling Jaya, Puchong, Johor Baru,” he said.

He, however, said certain districts such as Baling in Kedah, are overloaded with Tamil schools but in reality the population in the area only requires one or two schools.

He said the government need not build 147 new schools to cater for the Indian population but can instead relocate under-enrolled Tamil schools to places where there is demand.

“So, basically of the possible 147 new schools, all we need is actually just seven new schools.

“If we can take all these 140 under-enrolled Tamil schools and put them in the right places, we only need seven new schools,” he said.

If this happens, Arun said the projection for Tamil school enrolment could shoot up to 120,000, compared to 85,000 currently.

First phase

Unlike in the previous years where there was a lack of data, Arun said now is the right time to bring the matter to the government as his group is finally fully equipped with the necessary information.

“Now we have clear data, stipulating where the Tamil schools are, which areas need the schools, which areas need relocation and more.

“I have also explained to the Indian lawmakers and assemblymen as well as to the special officer to the education minister on the matter in a meeting on September 5 in parliament, and they also have understood the issue,” he said.

To kick off the relocation proposal, Arun said the group has identified 26 Tamil schools in dire need of relocation.

Of the 26 schools identified for relocation under phase one, nine schools are in Perak, Kedah (7), Pahang (4), Selangor (3), Johor (2) and Negri Sembilan (1).

“These 26 schools have 10 or fewer students,” he said.

At the meeting on September 5, Arun said his group had requested for the establishment of a high-level committee for coordination of the relocation of Tamil schools to be placed under the Prime Minister’s Department.

“We have to do a lot of catch-up work, this matter has been left unattended for almost 40 years.

“We cannot wait too long. If we don’t do this relocation, Tamil schools are in danger of having an irreversible natural death.

“On September 29, we have a meeting with Human Resource Minister V. Sivakumar to tell him to push this issue to the cabinet, so that they understand the matter.

“In our meeting, the implementation of the high-level committee for coordination of relocation of Tamil schools will be the top priority discussion,” he said.

Arun said that it might take a year or two for them to facilitate and prepare for relocation as it involves various bodies, including state governments, the Education Ministry as well as other aspects such as land requirements and funding.

He said a basic relocation of a school takes about three to five years.

“That’s why we have now requested to have this high-level committee because this committee will then facilitate, coordinate and catalyse the relocation,” he said.

Arun also said the government should allocate RM50 million separately for the next 10 years for the purpose of Tamil school relocation. – September 27, 2023.