KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 – Only six out of 527 Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) have received laptops from the government, says Kulai Member of Parliament Teo Nie Ching.
Taking to task the Ministry of Education, Teo said there has been “a clear mark of discrimination in the distribution of laptops to schools” based on the answer provided by the Ministry at the Parliament during Thursday sitting.
“Our education system is based on the premise that everyone should have meaningful access to education and no child should be left behind.
“Out of the delayed distribution of 150,000 laptops, a mere 406 laptops were distributed to Tamil Vernacular schools (SJKT). This forms a mere 0.27% of the total number of laptops distributed nationwide. The number of students studying in SJKT is about 80,500 students. Total number of student population in all streams of schools is 4.7million students nationwide. This means 1.7% of students in the system are from SJKT but they only received 0.27% of the laptops distributed,” Teo said.
Pointing out that a large percentage of B40 Indian students study in SJKT, she said the manner in which these laptops were distributed is not a tested method in fairness and equity and will not pass the test of equitable distribution of essential aid.
The MP also pointed out that the Perikatan Nasional government had already reduced 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 urged the Education Minister to “repair this situation immediately”.
–WE