Their main grouse pertaining to the unwanted activities is the encroachment on to the school’s land by a neighbouring school, as well as the St Leonards headmistress’ inaction and silence on the matter.
It was said that initially one acre of land each was given to the Tamil school and the neighbouring school.
According to the St Leonards PIBG Chairman Basantakumar Bochia Naiko, the school was established in 1937, but the land now belongs to Sime Darby.
At a special press conference at the Sentral Vista in Brickfields, here today, Hindraf legal counsellor Karthigesan Shanmugam said the headmistress’ silence is telling as she was also facing another serious complaint over a discplinary issue concerning a student.
On July 14, the headmistress had punished a Primary 5 student by ordering her assistant to make him eat food taken from a garbage bin.
A police report was filed on the matter of the boys punishment, with further complaints made to the Port Dickson Education Office, the Tamil Schools Supervisor, the Port Dickson Welfare Department, and the Negeri Sembilan Education Director.
Karthigesan and Basantakumar said they were surprised the headmistress is still in charge of the school despite the complaints.
Karthigesan added that this “punishment” issue leads to the main issue which is the encroachment of the Tamil school.
“The one acre of land is now being encroached by the neighbour school, construction of a new building on that land is going on. As a result, there is no proper ventilation in the school, besides the noise pollution that is taking place, it is not conducive for the students to study,” Karthigesan said.
“We have already issued a legal notice to the neighbouring school about the matter and also highlighted the issue to DAP, Gerakan, MCA and also to the Negri Sembilan MIC Exco Manikam Letchumanan, but no one responded.
“The MIC Exco even warned the parents against making this a big issue as the land did not belong to them (parents), and that it belongs to Sime Darby who can take it back anytime,” the Hindraf representative said, adding that parents also received threatening phone calls by unknown individuals.
Karthigesan lamented the fact that the headmistress did not respond to any of their queries on the land matter.
“Due to the noise and polluted air, parents of the students in the Tamil school have chosen not to send their children to school but instead to a foster home nearby for their lessons,” Karthigesan said of the Pertubuhan Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Yatim dan Miskin Wawasan Port Dickson which houses some of the students as well.
He said the parents are also planning to take legal action on the matter soon, but are still willing to give room for discussion on the matter.