MIC neglecting 145 Tamil schools, says Niat

The National Indian Rights Action Team (Niat) has accused the MIC of continuing to neglect the welfare of Indian schools.

It says that MIC president G Palanivel had excluded 145 partially aided Tamil schools from receiving allocations for infrastructure work.

Niat chairperson Thasleem Mohd Ibrahim said he got to know that these schools had asked for allocations totaling a mere RM4 million.

Thasleem said only 224 partially aided Tamil schools are included in the RM100 million 2012 budget as announced by the government, and allocated to the Education Ministry.

"However, these 145 schools are not included in this budget. To make it worse, these schools think they will be getting the aid as the MIC has not informed them otherwise," he alleged.

"These schools are seeking the financial assistance to commit to minor infrastructure work in their schools costing around RM15,000 to RM20,000. What is wrong for the MIC to ask for an additional RM4 million to cater for these schools as the amount is not that much?

"MIC's failure to get the additional allocation is a failure of the party to represent the Indian community," he said.

Thasleem said Niat will reveal the list of 145 schools which had been left out in the coming weeks.

He claimed to have a letter dated April 2012 written by Palanivel to the Education Ministry and Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the Education Minister, of the list of 145 schools nationwide which the MIC president had asked to be left out.

"I will provide the details soon including the letter written by Palanivel," he said.
'MIC keeping mum'
The Niat chairperson claims the MIC Education Bureau had been keeping mum on the issue and that should not be the case if it was to represent Indian interests.

Thasleem also took MIC deputy president Dr S Subramaniam (right) to task for his late response in applying that Indian contractors who are having problems registering for licenses from the Pusat Khidmat Kontraktor (Contractor Service Centre) be given exemptions and given infrastructure work in Tamil schools.

He produced a letter dated May 23 last year, written by Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resource Minister, seeking this exemption for Indian contractors.

"I question why the MIC is late in responding to this as the 2012 budget had been tabled in Sept 2011 and the MIC representative had only applied for an exemption in May last year when practically half of the 2012 period had gone.

"This will lead to a delay in awarding the infrastructure work for the 224 schools and also in the appointment of the contractors as this is handled by the Education Ministry. Again I feel the MIC has failed to respond quickly to the plight of the Indian community especially with regards to Tamil schools," he said.

Only contractors registered with the centre are allowed to do infrastructure work with the Education Ministry.

This, Thasleem said, needed an explanation from the MIC and reflected on the party's efficiency in representing the Indian community.

He also wanted the MIC and the government to be transparent on the RM100 million allocation and reveal how much had already been used for the welfare of Tamil schools.

"I heard only RM10 million of the 2012 allocation had only been used while the status of the remaining RM90 million is unknown."