PETALING JAYA: A year-end countdown dinner organised by the Malaysian Chinese Language Council (MCLC) raised RM1.05 million to support Chinese schools.

Its president Datuk Eddie Heng said the Chinese School Cash Aid was set up by MCLC in 2022 to assist Chinese schools.

The focus of the cash aid this year is on under-enrolled Chinese primary schools in the country.

Of the 1,302 Chinese primary schools nationwide, 616 or 47% are categorised by the Ministry of Education as being under-enrolled with fewer than 150 pupils each school.

“These schools face challenges in securing funds and resources due to the small numbers of pupils in the schools,” said Heng.

He said under-enrolled schools in rural areas where such schools are the only Chinese primary schools in the areas, they would need more assistance to ensure that the pupils are provided quality education.

“The working committee will be compiling feedback from various education groups,” he said, adding that a meeting would be held to discuss the implementation of various projects.

A working committee visited three Chinese primary schools in Melaka, nine in Pahang, two in Selangor and five in Kuala Lumpur to access the facilities of these schools.

These schools need funds to replace tables and chairs, upgrade their canteens, classrooms, sound system of the school halls, and replenish reference books in their libraries, among others.

Heng said the working committee focused on assisting under-populated Chinese primary schools to upgrade their facilities, so that the disparity between an under-enrolled school and an overcrowded school could be narrowed, and the same for the disparity between a rural and an urban school, he said.