The Save Our School (SOS) committee submitted an appeal letter to the Education Ministry today urging it to reopen the original SJK (C) Damansara school in Petaling Jaya before the new term begins next month.

"We urge the ministry to reopen the school before the new term commences on Jan 6 so that our children can study in a school located in the neighbourhood," said committee secretary Tommy Chin (photo) when met.

He said that under the PJI local draft plan, the school was supposed to be expanded and therefore it was puzzling why the government decided to close it later.

Chin added that a survey recently showed that the country lacked some 200 Chinese schools and 28 more were required in Petaling Jaya alone.

The letter addressed to Education Minister Musa Mohamed and a copy for his deputy Hon Choon Kim were submitted to an official at the Education Ministry in Kuala Lumpur by several committee members (photo, below).

Another copy will be sent to the Selangor education department.

New building

In January 2000, the Education Ministry ordered the closure of the school since it was no longer providing a "conducive learning environment".

Its 1,430 pupils were told to relocate to a new building in Tropicana, located several kilometres away from the original school.

Among the reasons provided for the closure were that the school was too small, had plumbing problems and that it was located too close to a highway, making it prone to air and noise pollution.

However, an official environment assessment report was yet to be furnished by the ministry.

The closure elicited strong protests from parents, opposition parties and civil society groups who felt that the move was unwarranted.

Parents and teachers were also piqued because the government had earlier proposed to build a 'branch school' at the new site and did not mention anything about closing the original one.

Following this some 70 pupils refused to move and continued to study in air-conditioned containers placed in the grounds of a neighbouring temple.

File closed

Meanwhile, deputy education minister Hon's private secretary Son Kuan Fah said the ministry did not reply to the committee because it considered the case as "resolved".

"We will surely read the letter but I have no idea what action would be taken as the file has been closed already. What do they (the committee) want?" he said when met later.

In a related development, SOS' Chin said a nationwide fund raising campaign will be launched in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 8.

Malaysiakini reported earlier that the two-prong campaign aims to get at least RM1 from every Malaysian to help pay for the maintenance of the temporary school.

The committee hopes to raise RM250,000 for its expenses next year.

At a burn rate of RM20,000 per month, money is needed to pay for the rental of the containers which house the students, utility bills, teachers' salaries, food for students, field trips and loan for books.