No Chinese students enrol in Year 1 at SJKC Kong Aik

One Chinese vernacular school in Perlis has seen a unique situation with no Chinese students enrolling in Year One for the 2025/2026 academic year, which began today.

Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Kong Aik in Mata Ayer recorded only 13 Malay students, nine Siamese and one Indian student for Year One, making the majority of the school's students Malay.

Headmistress Leong Yong Siang said that the total number of students at the school is 190, with 93 Malay students.

"The school has 17 teaching staff, including three female religious teachers and one male religious teacher who teach Islamic studies to Muslim students," she told reporters during a visit by Perlis education director Rose Aza Che Arifin to the school today.

READ MORE: MP questions survival of SJKC amid declining Chinese birth rate

Rose said the trend of increasing non-Chinese student enrolment in SJKCs could be observed in several such schools in Perlis, including SJKC Kong Aik, which is partly due to demographic factors and parents' interest in Mandarin language education offered at these schools.

- Bernama

Zahid talks up Mahkota candidate's Chinese school background

Improve vernacular school syllabus, not abolish system - panellists

COMMENT | How our education system polarises, promotes disunity

An Indian girl in SJKC, the only Malay in college

'Treasured friendships, memories as only non-Malay in school'