An Old Tamil School Is Maintained Well

“The school is maintained very well although it is an old school. The surrounding of the school is very clean and tidy”. This is what I observed when I visited SJK(T) Ladang Semenyih on 4 April 2007. I had a visit to this school to assess the facilities available in the school particularly its library, computer lab, furniture & fittings.

SJK(T) Ladang Semenyih is located in the middle of an oil palm estate which belongs to Golden Hope Plantation. “There are only seven families staying in the estate. The school has 420 students of which only 15 students are from the estate and the rest are from Semenyih town and its vicinity”, said Mr Thanaseelan, the headmaster of the school who has been there for 2 ½ years. Mr Thanaseelan is holding Master Degree in Education Management. He added that a majority of the children come from low income families and there are a few students whose parents are teachers in the school. 

During the visit I got to know that the school  had just converted an existing classroom into a computer lab where approximately 25 pieces of computers can be placed. The Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of the school took charge to renovate the computer lab. But the school is looking for sponsors to purchase 25 computers and computer tables.

The library at the school was very small and only 10 students can read at one time. According to the Headmaster, teachers had to take books from the library to classrooms during library time due to the space constraint. The headmaster said that due to the lack of classrooms in the school, the school could not expand the current library.

Mr Mathuraiveeran, the chairman of PTA who is a contractor said that the PTA has been assisting the school in many ways. He elaborated that the PTA has helped the school to renovate the computer lab, built a new toilet and bathroom and currently planning to build a new library for the school. 

During the visit, I also had the chance to look at the achievement of the students in the UPSR examination. Mrs S. Nyanam, one of the senior teachers in the school showed me the UPSR results of the students from 1999 to 2006. The results indicated that the overall pass rate in the school in 2006 was 33.8 per cent. Although it is still below satisfactory level but there has been an improvement in comparison to 1999 when only 16.1 per cent recorded passes. 

I also noted that Bahasa Melayu recorded 55.7 per cent passes and English recorded 53.2 per cent passes. 88.7 per cent and 70.9 per cent of the candidates in 2006 passed in Mathematics and Science respectively. I was told that 3 students in the school obtained 7As in UPSR 2006. Dharsini Devi from the school was the best student in UPSR in the country.

During the discussion Mrs Nyanam also informed me that extra classes are held for standard six students every year with the support of PTA in the school. Furthermore students have been asked to read books in the classrooms every day from 7.00am to 7.45am before formal school session starts, she added. According to her the students need extra guidance especially in Bahasa Melayu and English as the time allocated for the both subjects is limited. Weekly, only 60 minutes was allocated for English for Standard 1 to 3 and 90 minutes for Standard 4 to 6. Time allocated for Bahasa Melayu is 270 minutes for Standard 1 to 3 and 190 minutes for Standard 4 to 6. 

In general, the visit was satisfactory. EWRF is looking for sponsorship to provide 25 computers for the school as computers are very important tool for Tamil school students to equip themselves with basic knowledge one the use of computer.

- Manikam Krishnan