Disappointed by the Education Ministry's lack of action on their appeal to reopen the original SJK (C) Damansara school, the Save Our School (SOS) committee held an impromptu protest at the ministry headquarters in Kuala Lumpur as the new school term starts today.

About 30 people including parents, led by committee chairperson Wong Kim Foong and secretary Tommy Chin, took part in the hour-long protest.

They held placards that read 'Save our school', 'Reopen our original Damansara school' and sang the solidarity song outside the ministry building.

Several policemen, some in plain clothes, stood by to monitor the protest. No untoward incident happened.

Last month, the committee sent a letter to the ministry urging for the reopening of the school before the new school term starts.

"Today, parents waited hopefully at the original school from seven o'clock this morning, but since we didn't see any officer from the ministry come (to the school), we decided to hold a protest to show our dissatisfaction," Chin said.

Letters to ministry

He said a letter addressed to Education Minister Musa Mohamed and a copy to his deputy Hon Choon Kim were also submitted to their office today urging them to respond to the committee's appeal.

"This is not the first time we have sent an appeal letter and held a protest here. We really hope the ministry will give us a positive reply," he said.

Musa could not be reached for comment as he is on a working visit to Tanjung Karang. The ministry public relations officer Julina Johan refused to elaborate on the matter.

In January 2000, the Education Ministry ordered the closure of the school citing that it no longer provided a "conducive learning environment".

Its 1,430 pupils were told to relocate temporarily to another school while a new building in Tropicana, located several kilometres away from the original school, was being built. The Tropicana school was completed in time for the 2002 school term.

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

However, an official environment assessment report has 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.

Drop to 47 pupils

Chin said 47 pupils, including four newly enrolled Standard One children, were still at the original school this year. They will continue to study in the air-conditioned containers on the grounds of a neighbouring temple, which have functioned as classrooms for close to three years now.

Despite the drop of pupils from the initial 70, Chin is still optimistic about their struggle.

"We still have 47 pupils, this is still quite a big number ... the ministry cannot ignore them. If the ministry reopens the original school now, I am confident it wouldn't be a problem for us to recruit 500 pupils.

"The key point is still back to the reopening of the school," he stressed.