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Thursday August 5, 2010
Halimah to handle funds for Selangor Tamil schools
By WANI MUTHIAH wani@thestar.com.my
KLANG: Selangor executive councillor in charge of education Dr Halimah Ali will be handling the funding for Tamil schools in the state, said Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.
The funds were previously handled by the exco member in charge of Indian affairs Dr Xavier Jayakumar.
Sources said the change was made due to complaints by a large number of parent-teacher associations that the funds had not reached their schools.
Last year, the state government channelled some of the funds via three non-governmental organisations – Child Information, Learning and Development Centre (Child), the Tamil Foundation, and the Education, Welfare and Research Foundation (EWRF) – to upgrade the status of 97 Tamil schools.
Child, Tamil Foundation and EWRF have received RM805,144, RM424,980 and RM358, 257 respectively to date.
Allegations were also rife that the NGOs had been involved in the upgrading works of Tamil schools in Dr Jayakumar’s Seri Andalas constituency alone. The dissatisfaction culminated in a punch-up last Saturday during a meeting on the matter.
In the meeting, which was held at the annex building of the state secretariat, Midlands Tamil School PTA chairman M. Kumaravel was allegedly chased around the meeting hall and beaten up for praising the three NGOs.
According to Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam, the dissatisfaction arose from the NGOs’ failure to ensure all Tamil schools in the state benefited from the allocations.
“My constituency has seven Tamil schools, and only one school has been slightly upgraded by the NGOs,” he added.
Khalid said another meeting would be organised between the state exco and the PTA representatives to find the best solution.