Tender for the construction of a Chinese primary school in USJ, Selangor will open this week and construction may start as early as next month.

Chairperson of the Working Committee for the Development of Chinese Schools in Subang Jaya/USJ, Gan Wah Lien today said the tender for building SJK(C) Chee Wen will commence on April 18.

We heard that the whole school building will be constructed and work will start with the first block, he told malaysiakini .

The building of the school was shrouded in controversy after residents were dissatisfied with the initial plans to allow for the construction of only one block of 16 classrooms instead of a complete school with three blocks.

The Chee Wen school which was relocated from Batang Berjuntai in 1999, is currently squatting in five classrooms at another Subang Jaya primary school  the SK SS17.

Meanwhile, Subang member of Parliament Dr KS Nijhar told malaysiakini later that the construction of Chee Wen school could start as early as next month.

According to Nijhar, the first block should be completed by this year while the remaining blocks will be constructed next year.

He added that the construction of the first school block will proceed with the RM500,000 grant provided by the Ministry of Education together with another RM300,000 in funds raised by the Subang Jaya state assemblyperson Lee Hwa Beng.

I have arranged to meet with Works Minister S Samy Vellu to discuss whether some monetary provisions could be set aside for this school, he said, adding that such grants have been given to other Chinese primary schools in the area.

Nijhar said, among others, grants provided to Chinese schools in the Subang area include RM30,000 to the Subang New Village Chinese school, RM15,000 to the new SJK(C) Damansara school, RM40,000 for SJK(C) Puay Chai and RM40,000 for SJK(C) Lick Hung.

Vision school

On another matter, Nijhar said he is trying to persuade students from two Tamil primary schools to transfer to the USJ 15 Vision School scheduled for opening in June this year.

The two Tamil schools are currently in Bukit Jelutong and Ebor with 56 and 30 pupils respectively.

It was reported in The Star today that some 100 Malay, 70 Chinese and nine Indian students have registered for the vision school.

Gan also acknowledged that some 70 Chinese Malaysian students have registered to be enrolled for the USJ 15 Vision School. However, it is uncertain if the students are intending to study in the vernacular branch of the school.

The Subang Jaya/USJ Chinese education lobby group had earlier called on parents not to enrol in the Vision School as they felt it might further delay the construction of SJK(C) Chee Wen.

The Vision School is a government proposal to place primary schools of different teaching mediums  the national language, Mandarin and Tamil  in the same compound sharing common facilities.