KUCHING (Feb 11): The Sarawak United Association of Chinese School Boards of Management (Sha Dong Zong) is concerned about a drop in the number of new students in Chinese independent secondary schools (Du Zhong) state-wide.

Sha Dong Zong chairman Temenggong Datuk Vincent Lau believes the Covid-19 pandemic could be one of the leading factors resulting in the drop.

“As we are all aware that the pandemic has led to reduced household income and parents who send their children to Du Zhong need to pay school fees. This is one of the reasons that the number of new students with Du Zhong has reduced.

“Another reason is that only 15 per cent of pupils from aided Chinese primary schools (SJK), who completed their Primary 6 studies proceed to study in Du Zhong, not to mention that the Chinese population in Malaysia has been dropping.

“Some quarters have predicted that the Chinese population in Malaysia will drop to 19 per cent and below by 2040. This may have a certain level of impact on the development of Chinese education in the country,” he said during a luncheon with The Borneo Post and See Hua Daily News here today.

Last year, 14 Du Zhong in the state recorded a combined total of 1,173 new students.

For this year, the number dropped to 831.

According to Lau, six of the 14 Du Zhong in Sarawak are categorised as small schools, in terms of the number of students.

He opined that Du Zhong in Sarawak could focus on how to encourage pupils from SJK to continue their studies in the Chinese medium.

“We have to launch some initiatives to encourage parents to send their children to Du Zhong. Also, there is competition from international schools, where parents have to fork out RM3,000 to RM5,000 per semester.

“Compared to this, Du Zhong is way more affordable. Both international schools and Du Zhong are private schools, and we shall ponder why parents are still willing to send their children to international schools despite the high school fees instead of Du Zhong,” he said.

Lau opined it is likely parents did not know much about the Du Zhong syllabus and as such schools need to reach out to them.

“We need to further promote Du Zhong so that more people, especially parents will come to learn more about what these schools have to offer.

“Apart from this, Du Zhong also need to enhance the quality of teaching. Another factor is on the recognition of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), but in Sarawak, UEC has been recognised by the Sarawak government since (the late Tun Pehin Sri) Adenan’s era,” he said.

He pointed out that the issue of UEC recognition had been highlighted in almost every election since independence, but the federal government had yet to recognise the credentials of Du Zhong students.

Lau said even though China, Taiwan, and some European countries recognised UEC, there were still others yet to recognise it.

“We need to find ways to collaborate with global accreditation bodies to promote UEC so that UEC can be further recognised at the international level,” he added.