Bumiputera pupils make up nearly 40 pct of SJKC enrolment in Kuching, Samarahan, Serian

KUCHING (March 15): Bumiputera pupils made up nearly 40 per cent of the total enrolment in aided Chinese primary schools (SJKCs) in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian divisions this year, said Datuk Jonathan Chai.

The Association of the Boards of Management for SJKC in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian president said this reflects the growing recognition of SJKCs among non-Chinese families.

“Based on the latest statistics, the 70 SJKCs in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian recorded a total of 3,285 new pupils, an increase of 109 pupils compared to last year.

“Of these, 2,017 or 61.4 per cent are Chinese pupils, while Bumiputera pupils account for 1,268 or 38.6 per cent,” he said during the association’s annual general meeting held here on Saturday.

At the meeting, Chai was re-elected to lead the association for another term until 2028.

According to him, six SJKCs in the three divisions have less than 10 pupils, one of which is SJKC Chung Hua Beliong with only four pupils.

Last year, he said 57 schools under the association received federal grants worth about RM3.23 million to carry out maintenance and upgrading works.

He noted that some schools were given limited funds, which were insufficient to support more improvement works.

Chai cited SJKC Chung Hua Mile 10, which has a relatively large number of pupils but received only RM10,000, as a example of what he described as an unreasonable allocation mechanism.

As such, he suggested the Ministry of Education (MoE) empowers the deputy education minister’s office to process applications, not only to achieve equality but also to expediate the distribution of fuinds.

“This should help ensure that schools are able to get the government grants and carry out maintenance works without further delay,” he said.

He also called upon education officers to assist schools in solving their problems instead of citing technical issues as grounds to reject applications.

In addition, he reminded school boards to manage all funds transparently to avoid malpractices.