More contradictions over the Education Ministrys report on segregation in schools surfaced today when parents of pupils in SK Pelabuhan Kelang revealed that, contrary to earlier reports, they had met with the investigating committee.

The school is first to allege the practice of segregation  where the top class is reserved for Muslim students while others are sent to other classes.

However, SK Pelabuhan Kelang was not included in the list of 210 primary and secondary schools compiled by the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) in a memorandum to the ministry.

It is not known whether the probe findings recorded what had transpired between the parents and committee members at the meeting held January.

Chairperson of the Independent Committee on Segregation in Schools Prof K J Ratnam told the media on March 21 that investigations were only confined to schools named in the NUTP list.

He added that out of the 40 people who had sent letters to the NUTP, only two met with the committee.

But several parents contacted by malaysiakini today confirmed that eight of them had met with two of the investigating committee members  Pintas chief executive officer Dr Wan Halim Othman and Universiti Malaya social psychologist Prof Chiam Keng Heng.

However, one said some parents would not have known of the committee members visit had it not been for a parent who was a parent-teacher association committee member.

Short notice

Many of the 20 parents who learned of the meeting only two days earlier were however unable to get leave to attend due to the short notice.

When the eight of us tried to see the two committee members, we were stopped by the headmaster who said that only the parent who is the PTA committee member was allowed.

After we insisted that we would all leave if the eight of us did not get to meet the committee members, he relented.

The parents said they were very angry and disappointed that their complaint had not been addressed and that the complete findings of the independent committee has yet to be released.

They added that there has not been any changes in SK Pelabuhan Kelang despite the publicity and statements by government officials, headmasters and PTAs.

All the affected children have yet to be moved to the top class despite ranking among the top five in their respective classes.

Our childrens spirit is broken at such a tender age and despite us trying to motivate them, we ourselves feel frustrated and disappointed. The original issue of the relegation of smart students has since become political.

All we want is fairness in the education of our children. We are not interested in the politics of it, said a parent, whose son is among the top three among 240 pupils in his level.

No help

Relating their initial encounters with the school authorities over their complaint, the parents said the headmaster, senior assistant and afternoon supervisor were of no help at all when the matter was raised.

Efforts to address it at the schools Parent-Teachers Association meetings also proved futile.

Another parent of a 10-year-old said that during the schools Hari Kecemerlangan (award presentation day), they had handed a letter of complaint signed by all the affected parents to the attending district education officer but nothing came out of it.

In fact, the afternoon supervisor had told a parent that if he was unhappy with the situation, then he should sent his child to a Tamil school. She had also added that the top classes were reserved for Muslim pupils.

Is the school chasing the pupils away instead of resolving the issue? the parent asked.

Since the committee findings was announced last week, the NUTP has been bombarded with threats of disciplinary action against its officials and a pile of legal suits for making the allegations and naming the schools concerned.