Kalaichelvi Nadarajan has lodged a complaint with the ministry after her son was not chosen as head prefect on Feb 4 by the Sri KDU Primary School’s selection committee.
She claimed the reasons given on why the other candidate was better suited as head prefect for the private school were vague, but her assertion is being refuted by the school.
“My son worked hard, maintained above-average performances (in academic and co-curricular programmes) and was even offered the top position in the prefectorial board last year.
“And yet, this year, nobody could tell me why the other student was chosen (as head prefect) over my son,” Kalaichelvi said.
AK Chan, the chief operating officer (COO) and academic director of Sri KDU schools, in a statement to Malaysiakini on Thursday, defended the committee’s selection procedure.
“In the assessment of the committee in Sri KDU Primary School, (the student who was selected as head prefect) was the more suitable candidate for the post, based on the outcomes of the entire selection processes.
“(The selection was also based on the) committee’s observation of this student’s maturity, patience, commitment, and diligence in the execution of his duties in the past year, as well as the respect he garnered from the rest of the prefectorial body,” Chan clarified.
Rated on ‘overall performance’
According to Kalaichelvi, she, her husband, and a family friend had also attended a meeting with the school principal and disciplinary committee to discuss the criteria for the head prefect and deputy head prefect posts.
“They started the meeting by saying the criteria for the head prefect and deputy head prefect selection was ‘overall performance’.
“But the principal and school board were unable to identify and elaborate on the criterion where the other student had excelled over our son,” Kalaichelvi added, when contacted by Malaysiakini last week.
“I could not even give my son a proper explanation regarding the (head prefect selection) outcome,” she added, expressing how devastated her son was upon learning of the school’s explanation.
Then, the mother of two decided to continue pursuing the issue, hoping for clear, definitive answers to her queries.
She wrote a plethora of emails, first to the school board, and later - when she claimed there were no satisfactory responses from them - to the senior management of Paramount Corporation Berhad, the holding company for Sri KDU Primary School, which is a privately run smart school.
Unable to make inroads with her email queries, a frustrated Kalaichelvi then lodged a complaint with the Education Ministry on Thursday.
Interview process
When asked about the steps taken to select the best candidate, Chan explained these 11-year-olds have to go through two sets of interviews.
All Primary Five prefects are eligible to apply for the head prefect post, she said.
“Candidates are subjected to two interviews. The objective of the first interview, conducted by the discipline committee, is to assess the strength of candidates and suitability for the post.
Suitable candidates are then recommended for the second interview, conducted by the discipline committee with the principal and deputy principal, for further screening and to prove the candidates’ potential through (their) presentation of a project and (their responses in) a question and answer session,” Chan explained.
Asked if the ethnicity of a student is considered a factor in the appointment of Sri KDU Primary School head prefects, the COO and academic director answered “no”.
“Ethnicity is never a factor in the appointment of Sri KDU head prefects.
“For the record, in the last 10 years, the primary school head prefect position was held by one Malay, four Chinese and five Indians,” Chan replied.
When contacted by Malaysiakini yesterday, the Education Ministry’s corporate communications representative, Nurhairi Mohd Noor, confirmed that it had received Kalaichelvi’s complaint.
“The Education Ministry is currently investigating the matter,” he said.
Read more: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/338968
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