What the authorities say

THE Petaling Utama district education department alone receives over a thousand requests each year from parents who want to switch schools for their children.

According to officer Nor Faridah A. Bakar, most of the requests were by parents who wish to enrol their children at the cluster and high achieving schools, known as either Sekolah Kluster Kecemerlangan (SKK) or Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi (SBT).

She said guidelines for the selection of students for these schools were set by the Education Ministry, with an emphasis on academic excellence and involvement in co-curricular activities, other than proximity of the student’s home to the school, as well as whether he or she has older siblings in the school.

However, an important criteria for SKK and SBT secondary schools are based on the schools “niche area of excellence”.

“Entry to the cluster and high achievement secondary schools are based on Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) results, and those with results such as 5A 1B or 4A 2B will be accepted,” said Nor Faridah.

“Schools such as SMK Damansara Utama are popular because their niche area is English and extra co-curricular activities include scouting.

“Even if a student scored 3A and 2B, but has demonstrated excellence in his involvement in scouts, he will be granted a place here,” she said.

On the matter of proximity, a student who lives right in front of the school, but only has average UPSR results, can still appeal.

In neighbourhoods where primary schools outnumber secondary schools, problems may arise when everyone jostles to enter their preferred secondary school, resulting in some children not placed in the feeder secondary school.

For example, children who have completed their primary education at SK Assunta 1 and 2 in Petaling Jaya may be placed at SMK(P) Taman Petaling for their secondary education.

“We have to distribute the students evenly at the secondary schools. Due to lack of space, not all from the Assunta primary will go to Assunta secondary. There are students from SK Methodist who also want to go to Assunta secondary, and we also have to fill up SMK Taman Petaling,” said Nor Faridah.

On parents who expect priority because they claim their older children are enrolled in the same school, Nor Faridah said the department cannot just take the parent’s word for it.

“We cannot just evaluate based on the form filled in by the parents. We must also verify with the school if the student has older siblings in the school,” she added.

Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur education department director Foziah Buang said there were some 2,918 transfer appeals from parents of those entering Form One this year.

And this figure is just for the high performance schools in Kuala Lumpur.

Foziah said ultimately, school infrastructure is the limiting factor.

Schools such as SK Convent Bukit Nanas have smaller-sized classes, and have to limit the student intake.

“The classrooms can only accommodate 25 pupils each. There are only two Year One classes, meaning there is only room for 50 pupils, and yet we have 100 appeals to study there,” she said.

There is a circular from the ministry to cap the number of students in cluster and higher performance schools to between 30 to 35 per class to encourage better teaching and learning process, said Foziah.

On those who fail to get a place in SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail 1, despite living near there, Foziah said SKTTDI 1 has six classes. “Each class has 30 pupils, meaning we can only accommodate 180 Year One pupils.

“There are 131 pupils with siblings in the school, and parents – either teachers or support staff – working in the school bring seven pupils. This leaves us with only 25 vacancies.

“We have already added eight more slots, so there is just no more room. I hope parents can understand why despite living close by, some applications may be rejected,” she said, adding that children who attended the preschools affiliated with these primary schools also get priority in enrolment.

On the address given in appeal forms, Foziah said not all declarations are accurate.

“In some cases, parents give their office or friend’s address, which could be closer to their preferred schools. Sometimes we wouldn’t know if the parents are being honest,” she said.

On the requirement for marriage/divorce documents when making appeals, Foziah said in some cases, there could be a child custody tussle in play.

“We have cases of the dad trying to enrol the child in one school and the mother trying for another school.”