PETALING JAYA, Jan 14 — They diligently send their children to SJKT Seaport, as if business was as usual.
But the parents seem to have no qualms placing their children under the scorching sun — with just a tent shielding them from the glare and the occasional breeze to cool the young ones.
The school has been relocated to a new site — a new building in Kampung Lindungan some 4km away. But the parents of 24 pupils remain defiant as they insist on staying put at the 80-year-old school.
Tomorrow, the students will start learning in classrooms, with no electricity and water.
There was only one volunteer teacher present yesterday, coaching Standard Six pupils.
P. Rajeswary, 34, who sends her sons Tanesh Lethuman, 12, and K. Gokulan, 10, to the old school, said she could not afford the tbus fare to the new building.
“The new school seems close by but school buses and vans are charging a minimum of RM120 per child per month. Some buses don’t even want to make the trip because of the morning traffic. The journey takes a minimum of one hour from my house in Section 4,” she said.
Rajeswary, who earns about RM2,000, said she was not against the opening of the new school but insisted the parties concerned should be consider the inconvenience caused to the lower income group.
Another parent, M. Ramachandran, 43, said he was forced to shift out from Kelana Jaya to Shah Alam following the fiasco.
“I wanted my daughter to study in a Tamil school. Since the new school is some distance away, we decided to enroll her at Midlands Tamil school in Shah Alam. As such, we have shifted to a housing area nearby,” he said.
But if Seaport reopens at its old location, he would send his daughter back to her former school.
“I just want justice served to the children and parents of the Tamil community. We have four Tamil schools in the area and they want to do away with it,” he said.
