MCA Penang State

BUKIT MERTAJAM: From an enrolment of merely eight pupils now, SJK (C) Beng Teik Pusat hopes to register about 500 pupils when its new building opens here in January next year. Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said work on the RM4.1mil school building located in Taman Kota Permai, was expected to be completed by October.

“We hope the school will be ready in time for the new school term, which begins on Jan 2 next year.

“We are thankful to Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for giving the school RM3.5mil for the project,” he said before handing over the cheque to the school board and performing the project’s ground-breaking ceremony yesterday. Dr Wee said the Federal Government had earlier given the school RM500,000, while Penang MCA had raised RM307,000 through public donations for the project.

He said the school, which could take up to 1,000 students, would cater to the growing population in Bukit Mertajam. Dr Wee added that the school’s current single-storey pre-war building in Lebuh Katz on the island that was built in 1945, had recorded a dwindling enrolment due to changes in the demographic pattern in George Town. He said those keen on sending their children to the school should register them by August.