The Straits Times of Singapore 27th May 2001

With high demand for limited spaces in Chinese schools, parents fear their children will be left out. However, officials say lining up does not help

JOHOR BARU - Some brought along deck chairs and mats. Others came with snacks and newspapers to help survive the long, boring hours.

All had one overriding objective - to ensure that their children were enrolled in one of 20 Chinese primary schools here.

For the seventh consecutive year, hundreds of parents camped out all night at the schools prior to enrolment day for children born between 1995 and 1997.

Johor Baru Chinese School Development Committee member Ooi Kiang Hong said the queues were especially long at schools located in the north-eastern part of the city, where demand had grown by 24 per cent since last year.

The area had six Chinese schools, but the number of students from nearby housing estates totalled 16,495 last year, 35 per cent of whom had to travel up to 20 km for classes when they failed to get into area schools.

'These pupils have to wake up as early as 5 am to get ready for school. Parents also have to fork out additional transportation costs,' said Mr Ooi.

'To avoid that, many parents are prepared to endure camping overnight at schools to register their children as early as possible.'

But Headmaster Kang Siew Koon of SJKC Kuo Kwang in Skudai, the biggest Chinese school in the country with nearly 5,000 pupils, said the overnight queuing was unnecessary.

'The enrolment drive is week-long but parents always like to flood the schools on the first and second day, tiring themselves and burdening the school staff.

'It has become a tradition during enrolment.

'The vacancy allocation is not based on first-come,first-served basis but on the distance of the pupil's home from the school,' he said.

Mr Ooi said the recent proposal to set up a Chinese school in Taman Johor Jaya, where 90 per cent of 13,000 housing estate units were occupied by Chinese, was aimed at easing congestion at schools in the north-eastern areas.

In fact, after news was published last week of Malaysian Chinese Association president Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik's visit to Taman Johor Jaya to view the site for a proposed school, many parents wanted to know about its location and opening date.

It has been reported that in Malaysia, nine out of every 10 Chinese children go to a Chinese primary school, where they learn to read, write and count in Mandarin.

Even though the schools follow a government-approved syllabus, every subject is taught in Mandarin, except for Malay and English.

As a result, many Chinese students have a poor standard of Malay and English. -- The Star/Asia News Network