KUALA LUMPUR: There is currently no plan by the Education Ministry (MoE) to either shut down or relocate SMK Convent Bukit Nanas (CBN).
Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan told the New Straits Times that the Federal Territories Ministry however did conduct a survey on the parents.
"A traffic congestion task force had suggested that the school be relocated, but as of now, there is no plan to either relocate or shut the school down," he said.
The survey had involved six schools in KL.
CBN's Parent and Teacher Association (PTA) head, Rozali Ahmad also dismissed claims that the 117-year-old school might be relocated.
Rozali said the survey was conducted simply to get the opinions of the schools involved and the parents.
"The rumour started after the ministry conducted a survey to relocate the school from Bukit Nanas due to traffic congestion and rapid development in the area.
"We were worried about accidents ever since we heard the story of a Year Five pupil from SK Telok Medan who was crushed to death by a lorry. That was why the MoE conducted the survey."
However, Rozali said that almost 99 per cent of parents had rejected the idea, saying that they were willing to face daily traffic congestion. He said most of the parents of CBN students work in KL and therefore prefer to send their children there.
The school, built in 1899, is the last all-girl school in the city, after Bukit Bintang Girls School (BBGS) was relocated to Taman Shamelin Perkasa, Cheras in 2000.
CBN is one of the first schools to be distinguished as a Cluster School of Excellence by the Education Ministry and has a close relationship with her brother school, St John's Institution, located along the same road and is also a Cluster School of Excellence.