A Chinese educationist group today voiced concern that a new Education Ministry guideline may diminish powers of boards of governors of Chinese schools.

Dong Zong, the United Chinese Schools Committees Association of Malaysia, said that some Chinese school headmasters in Kuala Lumpur and Johor had received a letter from the Education Ministry last week, asking them to re-register their schools' board of governors.

They were asked to send in the names of only six governors, although there is a minimum of 15 members on most boards.

Dong Zong told malaysiakini today it also queried as to why the governors need to be registered again under the Education Act of 1996.

The alliance of board of governors of Chinese schools, it said, fears that the powers of the governors will be compromised by this move.

Dong Zong chief executive officer Bok Tai Hee said that since the Education Act 1996 was gazetted in 1998, the ministry has yet to reveal the details of the guideline.

"Why did they take such a long time to draft the guideline?" asked Bok, adding the ministry should make the draft available to the public so that the guideline can be reviewed by all before it is implemented.

He said that with regard to Chinese schools, the board of governors have been in the front line in stopping assimilation policies proposed by politicians, such as the Vision School concept, and if they were marginalised, it could pave the way for mono-language education.

PTA guideline

Meanwhile, Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau today reported Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim as saying that the letter merely stated that it was compulsory for the board of governors of Chinese schools to have five members and was not meant to decrease the number of board members.

"Dong Zong's worry is unnecessary," he said.

Bok also said that the public has yet to be informed on the guideline for Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) as it has not been made available to all schools, except for Chinese schools in Sarawak which received it in 1999.

He said the guideline to Sarawak schools gave the ministry the right to appoint outsiders as committee members of a school's PTA.

"The Chinese community cannot accept this point," he said, adding that the Chinese School Committees Association of Sarawak has protested against it.

"Despite this, two headmasters were asked by the authorities to set up a PTA. Again, this has made us lose confidence in the government," he said, revealing that an application to set up a PTA was normally done by teachers or parents.