Press Statement 
by Fong Po Kuan, MP of Batu Gajah 
on 5.6.2002
 in Batu Gajah, Perak

The Kinta District Education Department Should Apologise to the parents and not resort to "face saving" move for the wrong their have done in not consulting the parents regarding the transfer of their children

I call on the Education Ministry to order the Kinta District Education Department to accept all the 334 students of SMK Yuk Kwan Batu Gajah who were ordered to be transferred to SMK Pusing ( a newly built school) without the need for the appeal letter be submitted by parents.

These students were given an order letter (Arahan Pertukaran Sekolah) issued by the Kinta District Education Department dated 23.5.2002 transferring them to a newly built school, SMK Pusing. The decision to transfer them in the mid of the year was without consultation of the parents. 

Today, the affected students of SMK Yuk Kwan Batu Gajah returned to the school accompanied by their parents who took leave from work. All were informed that they are allowed to continue their studies in the school immediately (for afternoon session) but were required to sign an appeal letter.

The content of the prepared appeal letter by the school distributed to the parents is addressed to the District Education Department with the heading "Appeal to be transferred back and to be allowed to continue studying at SMK Yuk Kwan, Batu Gajah."

The appeal letter is ridiculous, unnecessary and is only a face-saving move by the Education Department. Further, the Deputy Education Minister,Datuk Hon Choon Kim in a statement was reported to have said that parents should not be forced to transfer their children from the existing school. This clearly shows that the order from the department transferring the students who have been studying in SMK Yuk Kwan was wrong. Why the parents are required to forward an appeal? Further, students are allowed to be back in the school with immediate effect.

Instead, the Education Department should apologise to the parents for failing to consult the parents and respect their choice of school for their children and not by resorting to face-saving move which caused further hassle to parents.

The parents objected to the transfer because in SMK Yuk Kwan, most of the subject are either conducted or explained in Mandarin. Parents were put in confusion and worried as a result of the transfer and many even took leave from work.