KANGAR: The surge in the number of non-Chinese pupils studying at Chinese primary schools is now becoming a unique trend turning schools into the best platform for national integration.

Perlis education director Roze Aza Che Ariffin said school is the best place for inter-racial integration and harmony for pupils to have friends from various ethnic groups, and a great help in interpersonal skills later in life.

He believes non-Chinese parents have sent their children to Chinese primary schools to master an additional language – Chinese.

He said this when visiting SJKC Kong Aik on Monday, the first day of school.

For the first time, Kong Aik does not have a Chinese pupil attending Year One.

The 23 pupils attending Year One at Kong Aik are 13 Malays, nine Siamese, and one Indian.

Roze Aza said apart from Kong Aik, other Chinese primary schools in Perlis also record a rise in the number of non-Chinese pupils.

Of the 253 pupils attending Year One at the 10 Chinese primary schools in Perlis, only 110 or 43.48 per cent are Chinese. There are 141 non-Chinese pupils and two non-citizens.

In northern Prai, 10 Malay pupils are studying Year One at SJKC Aik Keow.

This is the first time the school does not have a single Chinese pupil in Year One.

For SJKC Kuang Yu in Kuala Muda, northern Prai, this is the third year the school does not have any new Chinese pupil. Seven Malay pupils are studying Year One at Kuang Yu.

In Pahang, SJKC Sungai Kawang is without a new pupil this year. The entire school is left with only five pupils, all of them Malays.

Low fertility rate among the Chinese, migration to nearby towns are reasons for Chinese primary schools to have small numbers of new pupils.

SJKC Kuala Krau has a total of 11 new pupils – two Chinese, eight Malays, and one Indian.

In Melaka, Year One pupils at SJKC Ying Chye in Bukit Rambai and SJKC Ek Te in Tanjung Keling are mainly Malay pupils.

Of the 29 Year One pupils in Ying Chye, 23 are Malays, while 18 of the 20 new pupils at Ek Te are Malays.

Malay pupils make up of 73 per cent of pupils at Ying Chye and 74 per cent at Ek Te.