Building new primary schools to cater for the increasing demand of mother-tongue education is the best long term solution to the problem of relocating students from 'micro' Chinese schools, an educationist said today.

United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Jiao Zong) deputy chairperson Dr Yap Sin Tian said that the quick pace of development in the country has also caused more and more people to migrate from the rural areas to urban centres.

Hence, some schools in the rural areas had turned into 'micro' schools.

However, Yap conceded that the government or its sponsors could face several problems when relocating students or building new schools.

"Firstly, the cost of land and construction is a big issue. These schools are often relocated to urban or densely populated areas where the price of land is high," he said.

"Also, the building of Chinese primary schools depend mainly on donations and it is imperative that the government should make provisions for land and relocation," he stressed.

Appropriate manner

Yap was responding to comments made by MCA president Ong Ka Ting who was quoted in Sinchew Daily that the Barisan National supreme council has come to a consensus regarding the "micro" primary school relocation issue.

Ong, who is Housing and Local Government Minister, said the 14-member coalition partners in BN, who met for three hours in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, was against any party exploiting and politicising the education issue.

According to the report, Ong said that the education issue should be resolved in a professional and appropriate manner to avoid misunderstanding among the people.

He was also quoted as saying that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had assured that the government would not close down any Chinese primary schools. Instead, he added, the government would help relocate students from such schools.