Sin Chew Daily

The report "Development Trends in the Number and Enrolment of Chinese Primary Schools 2010-2021" released by Jiaozong on Tuesday has clearly outlined the structural changes in the number of SJKC students over the past 12 years.

What worries us is that the number of students at SJKCs nationwide has plummeted from 603,192 in 2010, by 15.92% to 507,177 this year. If the downtrend is not arrested, it will pose a severe challenge on the development of Chinese primary schools and even independent high schools in the country.

But reassuringly, the percentage of non-Chinese students enrolled at SJKCs has bucked the trend, jumping from 11.84% to 19.75%, making SJKCs even more fit to be "ethnic melting point" for young Malaysian students than the so-called vision schools.

According to Jiaozong's analysis, the number of non-Chinese SJKC students has increased from 71,417 to 100,167 during this period, while Chinese student population has gone down from 531,774 to 407,010 by a whopping 23.46%.. Obviously, without these non-Chinese students, the situation of micro SJKCs will be even more serious.

The main reasons for drastic fall in the number of SJKC enrolment nationwide and particularly in rural areas are fewer children among Chinese families, relocation to cities and migration overseas. Such a trend is almost irreversible.

According to demographic statistics, the overall birth rate must be at least 2.1 in order to prevent population aging. Nevertheless, the birth rate in China today is only 1.6, Hong Kong 1.2, Taiwan 1.13 and Singapore 0.84. Although the birth rate in Malaysia is relatively high at 2.48, the rate for the Chinese is significantly lower, with the percentage of Chinese population in the country down from 39.6% during the early years of independence to only 22.4% last year.

Due to the negative growth of Chinese population in the country, more SJKCs are expected to become micro schools 10 to 15 years down the road. Many may even be forced to close due to the absence of new students. We really cannot imagine what will become of SJKCs without the admission of more non-Chinese students.

Of the 1,301 SJKCs in the country, 610 have fewer than 150 students to be defined as "micro schools", 70 more than 12 years ago. These schools make up 46.9% of all SJKCs. The education ministry has specified that when the number of students at a micro school has dropped below 30 (there are 96 such schools nationwide today), there will be combined classes, which is what many parents do not wish to see.

If the Chinese community wants to avoid seeing this or closure of schools, relocation, free school buses to pick up students and admission of more non-Chinese students are probably the only way out.

Parents are all concerned about their children's education and will pick the best schools for them. It is common for non-Chinese parents to send their children to Chinese schools nowadays, especially in urban areas because they are drawn by the better teaching quality of SJKC teachers as well as a conducive environment to learn the Chinese language and diligence of the Chinese people.

While our politicians keep promoting vision schools as a tool to promote greater unity among Malaysians from different ethnic backgrounds, many non-Chinese parents don't think the same way!

A successfully run school will naturally be able to woo more parents to enroll their children there because all parents want to send their children to schools with good reputation. This phenomenon is particularly evident in China and Taiwan, where prices of properties adjacent to such schools are  known to have gone up much more than elsewhere. While such development may not be healthy, for the sake of the survival of SJKCs, it is not a bad thing if the principals can run their schools well and manage to turn them into more sought-after schools.

All these years we have been paying so much attention to the development of independent Chinese high schools. Perhaps we should also care about the future of Chinese primary schools in the country now. The local Chinese community should come together to think of ways to improve the quality of Chinese primary schools and turn them into "elite schools" capable of drawing more students of all races.

We can achieve this so long as we put in the effort. Once the "ethnic melting pot" learning environment begins to take shape, the future development of Chinese primary schools will be assured.