NST: 01 March, 2008
PEKAN: Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Pekan is one of the oldest schools in Pahang. Despite its history and achievements, pupils and teachers had mostly been worried about their school building. The 57-year-old building, mostly made of wood, has been under attack by termites for years.
Yesterday, the teachers, pupils and their parents were smiling from ear to ear — after it was announced that the school would be getting RM2.9 million for a new building.
The office of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has allocated RM1.4 million, the balance of RM1.5 million is from the Education Ministry.
“We have been longing for this. After all these years of trying to save documents, computers, tables and chairs, we can finally heave a sigh of relief,” said Ong Siew Ling, the schools’s mathematics and Mandarin teacher.
Parent Goh Siew Choo, 35, said the school’s condition had deteriorated so badly that she was worried about sending her children to school.
Dalillah Alias welcomed the funding, saying the new building would ease the fear of parents.
The new building, expected to be completed within a year, will house six classrooms and a multi-purpose hall.
Najib performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the new building yesterday.
“This is a unique Chinese school,” said Najib, the incumbent Pekan MP.
“We have students of all races here who treat each other like family.”
The school has 78 Malay students, 104 Chinese, 10 Indians and 21 of other races.
Najib said the BN-led government was doing all it could to ensure parents, regardless of race, have the choice of sending their children to any type of school.
He added that financial constraints should not be an excuse for children to be deprived of a proper education.