Joint Statement Released by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong
Joint Statement Released by Dong Zong and Jiao Zong
August 7, 2022
Apropos of the school merger proposal for miniature-scale vernacular Chinese primary schools raised by the MOE once again of late, including letters sent to parents of students in the merger list seeking ‘assent of merger’, Dong Zong and Jiao Zong are greatly concerned, thus this joint statement is released herewith:
Dong Jiao Zong notes that the implementation of miniature-scale school merger proposed by the MOE is threefold: (1), to physically merge schools with less than 150 student population; (2), to conduct ‘non-physical merger’ for schools with less than 10 students; (3), to gradually halt the operation of the said miniature-scale schools, viz., stop intaking students from Grade One. Truth be told, over the past few years, the said schools have been receiving merger proposal from the MOE; just that the proposal was declined in the first place. Therefore, hitherto no miniature-scale vernacular Chinese primary schools are participating in the merger project.
2. Further, the merger proposal is believed to generate seminal impacts on Vernacular Chinese primary schools, particularly on whether the operation license of the said schools will be revoked and that is what parents need to be aware of. In this dominating unitary education system, vernacular Chinese primary schools have been experiencing enduring consequences, let alone the non-realisation of systematic construction for vernacular primary schools. The merger simply means the deduction in number of vernacular Chinese primary schools and it is difficult for any number raise in future. Realising the dreadful consequences, Dong Jiao Zong implores relevant school boards to decline the proposal received. In actual fact, Dong Jiao Zong deeply regrets and takes the MOE’s act of sending ‘assent of merger’ letter to parents directly and not mooting with the school as disrespect and marginalisation towards vernacular Chinese primary school boards.
3. Notwithstanding vernacular Chinese primary school relocation is one of the strategic approaches stated to resolve the said issue in the “Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025”, no mechanism responsive to the relocation implementation is at play thus far; it includes appropriation and land provision for the schools to apply. Due to this delay, many zero-intake schools had to address their land ownership and construction fund individually thus could not relocate as planned eventually. For the manifestation of its determination, the MOE is urged to release and formulate a complete and transparent school relocation plan to ensure the smooth progress of the matters.
4. Dong Jiao Zong posits, it cannot allow even one vernacular Chinese primary school to be delisted from operation, and urges the MOE to immediately stop posting ‘assent of merger’ letter to parents. Meanwhile, Dong Jiao Zong is closely watching the merger measure and will convene meeting to formulate development policy for miniature-scale vernacular Chinese primary schools in bid to assure the sustaining progress of Chinese education on this soil.