REBUILDING OF BURNT DOWN SCHOOL, SRB CHUNG HUA BATU 8 ½

A notice was handed by me to the Speaker of the Dewan under Standing Order 15(1) seeking leave of the Legislative Assembly to discuss as a matter of definite matter or urgent public importance concerning the welfare and education of students of SRB Chung Hua Batu 8 ½ , Jalan Kuching-Batu Kitang. The school was burnt down by an early morning fire on Saturday 10th May, 2007. When I arrived at the school, I was told that BOMBA encountered some problems in fighting the fire. A semi-concrete block of building with few classrooms was found completely destroyed by fire together with a staff room and the headmaster’s office. Upon that notice being sent to the Honourable Speaker, I can understand that the relevant authorities had been called to supply information and report of action taken in respect of the matter. I am happy that a very detailed report and information was read out by the Honourable Speaker for the information of all in the Dewan and proposals to be taken.

The students are now placed at a nearby school and it was also revealed that the School Committee could send a proposal to the Education Department to rebuild the school. Such a move is important because we want to stress that the responsibility of education and maintenance of education facilities should be the responsibility of the government and the government should not push this responsibility away to society especially when it involve vernacular schools and that this was the issue that DAP had been fighting for all these years.