KUALA LUMPUR: The government has to decide whether it wants mission schools to remain a part of its education framework and if so, take steps to open a dialogue with the stakeholders.
Failure to do so, say the schools, would only lead to the institutions being at loggerheads with the authorities, as seen in the recent land lease issue involving the iconic SMK Convent Bukit Nanas (CBN) girls' school.
Michael Simon, president of the Malaysian Federation of Lasallian Alumni Associations, said the government had to make its position clear on the future of partially aided schools.
"This has to be a national policy, failing which, inconsistencies will arise and lead to issues like the one which affected CBN," he said.
The 122-year-old CBN was recently mired in controversy over the authorities' refusal to extend the lease of the land on which its secondary school sits. The 60-year lease was set to expire on Sept 6.
The issue was resolved last week when the Prime Minister's Office announced an extension to the lease by another 60 years.
Simon said to prevent such issues, change would have to come in the form of open discussions between education authorities and the schools on the future of their partnership, the formation of a special committee to oversee mission school policies as well as government funding.
"The committee should comprise all mission schools and the relevant authorities."
This, he said, had been actively championed by the Federation of Christian Mission Schools Malaysia, of which La Salle is a member.
Simon said despite its glorious past, La Salle schools were now in poor shape due to insufficient funding.
The schools, he said, had to bear the high costs of running and maintaining buildings, assets and facilities.
"The government occupies our school and what we get is a RM5,000 grant for utilities and phone bills, which more often than not, is late.
"The funds usually come only every two to three months so we depend on the Parent-Teacher Associations and alumni funding to subsidise the difference."
The clearest effect of this, he said, was when St John's Institution, one of the oldest schools in Kuala Lumpur, had its power supply cut after failing to settle a RM245,000 bill from Tenaga Nasional Bhd in 2018. The school had to appeal for donations from its alumni in order to raise the funds.
There are some 420 mission schools run by Catholic, Methodist, Protestant and Anglican orders in Malaysia. Nearly half of them are located in Sarawak.
Mission schools decide on the appointment of their own principals and are run by a board of governors and trustees under the mission authority. The staff, students and the school syllabus, however, come under the purview of the Education Ministry.
The Prime Minister's Department had, in 2009, set up a fund for mission schools to receive between several thousand ringgit and around RM200,000 annually depending on size.
Simon, who is also the chair of the Board of Governors of St John's Institution, noted that the conditions state that the funds could be used only for wiring, piping, roofing and drainage.
He also touched on St John's gazettement under the National Heritage Registry in 2010, which he described as a "privilege with a set of challenges".
The institution, he said, had hoped that following the gazettement, the government would provide grants to maintain and restore the 117-year-old building.
This, he said, did not materialise.
The heritage status also meant that any work that involves, overlaps or broadly affects the building needs to be guided by a conservation management plan drawn up by registered conservators recruited by the building's owners or custodians.
The building or site works also need to be approved and supervised by the National Heritage Department alongside local authorities.
Simon also cautioned that the St John's Institution building was not insured against fire or other calamities.
"This is because it requires renovations for safety features to be added.
"These layers of approvals, procedures and necessary coverage cost money. In the meantime, if someone dies in a fire, the mission authority running the school would be exposed to lawsuits."
Malaysian Federation of Lasallian Alumni Associations committee member James Sia said the missions would not give up their schools as they were a part of their history.
"If we were to give mission-run schools to the government, what would stop it from being sold off for a commercial project?"
He said even other schools such as Victoria Institution which had been conferred heritage status were "decaying".
"The fear is that with heritage status schools, the government or new landowners would just wait until the structures collapse, or become irreparable before selling the land," Sia added.
Education lobbyist Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim believed that it was high time the government put the partially funded system to rest.
"There should no longer be this distinction. It should fully fund all schools — mission and vernacular. The government should also allow them to keep their structure of governance and trustees.
"Laws may need to change, but the alternative is sticking to this system. We need to think about what's in the interest of the children."