The hostel can house 200 pupils and has communal bathrooms, a laundry room and a canteen.
THE new student hostel at SJK(T) Ladang Midlands in Shah Alam, Selangor, will start receiving students from Sept 15 when the next school term begins.
The 115-year-old school is the first Tamil vernacular primary school to have hostel facilities.
Built at a cost of RM4mil and funded by the state government, the hostel is adjacent to the school and is capable of housing up to 200 pupils.
It has communal bathrooms, a laundry room and a canteen.
Pupils will be assigned to rooms of four that are furnished with beds, mattresses, cupboards and study desks.
At a press conference, SJK(T) Ladang Midlands school board chairman Uthayasoorian Kalimuthu said the hostel was constructed with the Shah Alam B40 community in mind.
“We found that many children in Selangor are unable to attend school for various reasons such as their home environment, poverty or transport issues because both parents are working.
“With the hostel, we hope to see more children being given opportunities to receive the education they deserve.”
Selangor Indian Consultative Council (SICC) chairman Charles Santiago said the hostel would be a big help in tackling the poverty issues of the Indian community in Selangor.
“Statistics have shown that among the three major races, the Indian community is the poorest and the dropout rates among Indian students are very high, hitting up to 15% or 20%.
“With the hostel, we’re able to address the problem of inaccessibility and equip pupils who need extra help,” he said.
Citing the example of SJK(T) Simpang Lama in Klang, Santiago said, “The school, which has strong involvement of the parent-teachers association (PTA), non-governmental organisations (NGO), local school board and the Selangor state government, has seen consistent success in the performance of pupils at a national level.
“The results of the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) at the school were better than those at national schools and even Chinese schools.
“This shows that cooperation of all parties is crucial in ensuring that pupils succeed.”
Selangor government’s contribution of RM300,000 will be used to finance the enrolment of 25 boys for a year.
Incumbent Sentosa assemblyman Gunaraj George said funds for next year’s enrolment would also be donated in due time.
He said the state government was committed to the upward mobility of its residents and would prioritise a holistic education for students, availing recreational and athletic programmes as well.
Uthayasoorian added that while the hostel would only cater to pupils until Year Six, the school would partner with NGOs in helping students transition to the next phase, to either continue to government secondary schools, vocational schools, or work.
Santiago mentioned that besides donations, the state government would support the “Program Tuisyen Rakyat”, a free tuition initiative for underprivileged students and two other youth development programmes.
For now, the hostel will only be accepting 25 boys from SJK(T) Ladang Midlands for its first year.
Applicants must be from the B40 group and be in Year Four or Year Five.
Forms are available at the school and the deadline is Aug 15.
For details, call 016-332 7590 (Murthy) or 019-282 5191 (Gunasekaran).
