BUTTERWORTH – Multiple parties will be approaching the owner of the private land where the 89-year-old SK Assumption in Bagan Dalam, Penang, is located.
While students went to class today, its alumni, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and representatives of the state government will meet the landowner soon to allow the institution to continue operating or bid for more time before the deadline on February 28.
PTA chairman Mohd Aminuddin Baqy Mohd Noor said representatives from PTA and the alumni association will seek an acceptable outcome over the matter.
“We hope to find a solution during the meeting with the landowner to continue to sustain the 89-year-old school at the site. I am from this school and I want my children to attend the same school, and I don’t want them to be transferred to another school.
“We have formed a task force to save the school and we hope to find a solution for students to continue their studies uninterrupted until a permanent solution is found,” he added.
More than 55 students attended the school today, after the Education Ministry allowed classroom studies after shutting down physical attendance during the movement control order (MCO) following the Covid-19 pandemic.
SK Assumption Alumni Association president K. Mohanasundram said the Save Assumption School task force has planned to meet the private landowner to discuss the issue.
“It is a sad thing for the parents as it creates a lot of inconvenience to them, and it also hurts the sentiment of former students who attended the 89-year-old school if it closes down.
“The Education Ministry and the state Education Department could have found ways to save the century-old school,” said Mohanasundram.
The alumni president said he had spoken to the landowner as well as relevant authorities to find a suitable plot of land nearby to relocate the school.
Furthermore, they are also discussing the possibility of finding private owners to build and operate the school, due to its historically significant background.
Meanwhile, Bagan Dalam assemblyman M. Satees said he and Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy had met with Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow to discuss the matter earlier today.
“CM (Chow) has instructed me to talk to the landowner and I will be meeting him later today.
“I will seek the landowner’s permission to allow the school to continue its operations. If the landowner asks us to return the land, then I will propose that he sell the land to the school’s board of governors to prevent closure of the school,” Satees said.
He said if other options fail, he will suggest to the landowner that the state buys the land to save the school.
The Vibes had on Saturday reported that the 89-year-old SK Assumption in Bagan Dalam will cease operations on February 28.
The Education Ministry had made the decision to close down the school as the private landowner is seeking the handover of the land as soon as possible.
SK Assumption, a missionary school originally in Jalan Assumption, was relocated several hundred metres away when the Penang Catholic Diocese sold the land to a private developer some 25 years ago. – The Vibes, January 10, 2022
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