KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — Tamil national type primary schools (SJKT) have long remained in the background but are now seeing renewed interest among Indian parents, especially in urban parts of Klang Valley.

Several schools in Puchong and Klang, for instance, have been seeing a steady rise in student enrolment over the last few years.

In SJKT Puchong, which boasts the highest number of students among all three SJKT schools in Puchong, the overall number of students has increased from 701 in 2022, to 708 in 2023, and then to 724 in 2024.

The school also has around 50 students at the pre-school level.

Its headmistress Sivagami Govindasamy said Standard One enrolment has also increased from 130 in 2023, to 145 in 2024, and next year, the school will welcome 169 new students.

"We usually have four classes for each standard. However, this year, we expanded to five classes for Year One and next year, we will increase it to six classes due to higher enrolment.

"In fact, several previously under-enrolled schools in Puchong have also seen an uptick in students now,” Sivagami, 57, told Malay Mail.

Sivagami said Tamil schools are still seen as institutions that instil community pride for Indian parents seeking to expose their children to their cultural heritage and tradition from a young age.

"The parents are also rallying support for us by securing funds and assisting us whenever we organise or participate in science competitions and sports tournaments,” she said.

Similarly, student numbers have more than tripled at SJKT Taman Sentosa in Klang, from 243 students during the school’s inception in 2018 to 835 this year.

Staying connected to their roots

SJKT Taman Sentosa headmaster Thamilarasu Subramaniam, 55, attributed the surge in student numbers to the school’s new facilities and upgraded infrastructures.

"Over the years, Tamil schools have worked tirelessly to enhance our infrastructures and improve academic results, putting us on par with national schools and Chinese national-type schools (SJKC).

"We are still the first choice for Indian parents who are committed to Tamil cultural and language preservation,” Thamilarasu said.

Echoing similar sentiments, the school’s parent-teacher association committee member Mohanambal Kasinadan @ Keseven said she enrolled her son, Shavindren Bala Saravanan, 10, into SJKT Taman Sentosa to provide him an opportunity to learn his mother tongue in a structured environment.

"While maintaining a strong focus on core subjects like Science and Mathematics, Tamil schools also keep our children connected to their cultural roots.

"Tamil schools observe religious and cultural celebrations such as Pongal, Navaratri and Deepavali and during these occasions, the children participate in singing and drama competitions to nurture their talents in their own native language,” the 42-year-old financial adviser said.

Meanwhile, Dr Vivegan Doraisamy opted to enrol his seven-year-old son, Saswath Vivegan, to SJKT Puchong although another national school, which also happens to be his alma mater, is located in the vicinity.

"Tamil school students are equally competitive as national school and SJKC students.

"They place a strong emphasis on encouraging students to take part in science and maths competitions which hones children’s thinking capacity. That creates a generation of thinkers and I want my son to be part of that process.

"Since both me and my wife cannot read or write in Tamil, we sent him for Tamil tuition classes since pre-school to prepare him before he joined SJKT Puchong,” the 40-year-old dentist added.

Smaller schools dying out

However, Selangor Tamil School Headmasters Council chairperson SS Pandian noted that Tamil schools located in the outskirts are not faring as well as their urban counterparts, with many on the brink of closure.

"Currently, we have 528 SJKT schools across the country. The overall number of students (including pre-school) hovers around 85,000 despite one Tamil school being closed down due to poor or no student enrolment every year.

"Schools located at estates are at higher risk of closure because Indian populations have largely relocated out of the plantations into urban areas.

"Now, the migrant workers have replaced them at estates and they surely don’t send their kids to Tamil schools,” Pandian, who is also SJKT Bestari Jaya headmaster, explained.

Nevertheless, Pandian finds the resurgence of support and pride for Tamil schools among the Indian parents reassuring.

"Since there is a stronger demand now for Tamil schools, we need to make more SJKT schools available in places like Cyberjaya, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu, which host a sizeable urban Indian population,” he said.