KUANTAN: Pupils of SJK(T) Ladang Jeram here will continue to attend school sessions in makeshift classrooms as the construction of their new school building has hit a snag.
Having been temporarily operating on a piece of land belonging to property developer Pasdec Holdings Bhd along the Jalan Kuantan bypass near here for two decades, the pupils are likely to remain at the site a bit longer.
The new building, on a site measuring 2ha nearby, was initially scheduled to be completed in 2018. But construction work never took off even after earthworks were completed.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah, who visited the school today, said Pasdec planned to develop the existing site as a commercial area and had proposed for the school to operate on a new site.
"The school cannot be relocated as the new building is not complete. I will meet Pasdec to seek its approval to allow SJK(T) Ladang Jeram to continue operating here until the new building is completed.
"The school's management board chairman (Datuk K. Nadeson) had written to Deputy Education Minister (Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon) on July 12 to seek assistance in expediting efforts to build the new school.
"I will make an appointment to meet Mah as soon as possible to discuss the school's status. This is an old issue, so we hope it can be solved soon," he said after attending a meeting with the school's management at the premises here today.
Saifuddin, who is the Indera Mahkota member of parliament, said that although the earth clearing works for the building near SMK Sultanah Hajah Kalsom in the vicinity had been completed, the construction never materialised.
"Today is my third visit to the school. There have been a lot of new changes compared with my first visit in 2018. I was informed that the issue (delay) was caused by the contractor appointed by the ministry.
"We hope works for the new building can begin soon," he said.
He refuted claims that the school would be ordered to close and its pupils relocated to nearby schools.
Saifuddin clarified that Pasdec, in its recent letter, did not ask SJK(T) Ladang Jeram to vacate the area immediately, but sought clarification on the status of the new school.
SJK(T) Ladang Jeram has 46 pupils and 10 teachers.
It was previously reported that the RM14.8 million project, which was supposed to be completed in August 2016, was extended to November 2018. When the contractor ran into trouble, it was halted.
The original wooden structure of the school, built by Jeram Estate Sdn Bhd in 1952, was torn down when the estate was sold to Pasdec for a residential project in the mid-1990s.
The developer allowed pupils and teachers to occupy the cabins as part of a temporary arrangement until a school building was built.
Over the years, the school's Parent-Teacher Association had renovated the makeshift classrooms, which were previously separated by zinc sheets and plywood for walls and wire netting for windows.