Primary school students asked to eat in changing rooms

PETALING JAYA - The primary school which made its non-Muslim students eat in a changing room after closing its main canteen during the fasting month has been ordered to remove its makeshift eating facility, which the public has called "unhygienic" and "extreme".

The issue first came to light after a Facebook posting with photos was made by a concerned parent.

The post has since been shared more than 2,500 times at 3.45pm today.

The photos show boys and girls eating together in the ladies' changing room on chairs and tables provided by the school, where a male gardener is seen supervising them.

The room has three shower stalls. The ladies' latrines are located in the next room.

Deputy Education Minister II P Kamalanathan visited the school at around 2.30pm and after inspections, ordered them to close their makeshift canteen.

"In the first place, the entire episode should not have happened," Kamalanathan said later on Twitter.

"A proper place should have been identified, surely not the changing room. It is not the right thing to do. The school could have appointed a temporary canteen operator to run the operations during Ramadhan," he tweeted.

A parent of a non-Muslim child at the school told theSun that students were told during assembly that they had to eat only in the designated area.

When she queried teachers about the issue, they told her that this was because they wanted to avoid a mess being made in the canteen when there were no canteen operators around to clean up after the students.

"Since the start of the fasting month, the boys were made to eat in the male changing room while the girls were made to eat in the ladies' changing room.

Teachers claimed that the boys were making too much noise and moved them to eat together with the girls to better manage the students.

"After I complained about the location, they said they will move the students to an outdoor area near the storeroom. Naturally, I protested because there is no shelter over there," she said, adding that the school finally offered to move the students to the men's changing room, as it was "two doors away from the latrines."

She also lamented that the school did not provide food for the non-Muslim students during the entire month and because her daughter did not inform her about the canteen closure during the first week, she ended up starving.

She added that the afternoon session which her daughter attends comprises of three grades and has about 15 to 20 non-Muslim students.

Kamalanathan also tweeted that the Daily Schools Management Department has been requested to conduct more investigations into "why such a decision was made by the school".

He added that the school has since removed the temporary eating place from the changing room.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also tweeted at 3.43pm: "I have directed the Education director general to investigate the issue of non-Muslim students who were asked to eat in the toilet. Stern action will be taken if there is basis."

the Sun