Monday, 13 February 2012
Board of Governors for Tamil Schools
In an effort to bring changes to Tamil schools, we as a community volunteers has taken yet another initiative along with the Tamil Foundation to organize a special forum to establish Board of Governors for all Tamil schools in Penang.
This special forum was held on Sunday 12th February 2012 at the first floor, Pelita Restaurant,Autocity Juru, Penang.The Ceremony began right at 4.00 pm and ended at 7.30 pm. Out of the 28 Tamil schools in Penang, 13 schools have been represented to this forum by headmasters, PTA chairmens and members of the public from NGOs.
Dr.Muniandy Narasimman as the first speaker representing the Tamil Foundation has given informations on how to set up a board of governors for Tamil schools.
After the tea break at 5pm, the forum continued with presentations by second speaker Mr.Thiyagarajan from Tamil foundation on the latest issues of the Tamil schools which has a board of governor and the benefits to be achieved if the board was established. After his speech, Mr.Murugaiyan from Tamiliyal Naduvam has shared some tips on how to handle some of the issues plaguing the Tamil schools.
Forum continues with the final speech from the Hindraf adviser Mr.Ganesan, where he argued that tamil schools issues should be given more serious attention by all parties. So, Hindraf is always ready to fight for Tamil schools to get equal rights to strengthen the Tamil education system in this country. He also stressed that, to achieve these objectives Hindraf is ready to cooperate with any party that aligned with the objectives of Hindraf.
Finally, Penang Hindraf co-ordinator Mr.Kalayselvam introduced to the audience a new website that will provide news about the latest developments of Tamil School's Board of Governors. Forum continued with a question and answer session and ended exactly at 7.30 pm.
"Stop Tamil Schools Extinction, Now or Never!"
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My name is Gobalan Senthivel.
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate to attend your forum with Letchumanan Alagan on "Tamil Schools and Board of Governors" on Feb 12th.
We represented MIETA and PERIM.
The forum was a very good eye opener for all the 13 Tamil Schools and Tamil School lovers who were present.
It has a lot of meat. The main speakers for the evening did a fantastic job in the content delivery and nailing the message to the heart of the attentive crowd without fail. Dr Muniandy and Mr Thiagarajan were well prepared and did a fantastic job with a lot of passion in them during the delivery. It was very unfortunate that the 15 Tamil Schools missed the session.
Given the benefit of doubt, I humbly request the organizers to run a repeat of the forum to benefit those who missed and new people to join in. Even though the time spent was too long (3.5 hours), but I reckon it was well spent and worth every minute.
Having said the above, I also would like to share my observations of the forum in the form of highlights and lowlights to the organizers.
Pse consider my feedback as positive for continuous improvements.
Highlights :
1. The speakers were well prepared. They were SMEs (Subject matter experts). Presentation materials were supported by facts and data.
2. Participant hand outs were given. It helps for good reading at own leisure time.
3. The crowd was well disciplined. Good crowd control by speakers and organizers.
4. The tea break was adequate with good spread of bites.
Lowlights :
1. Punctuality was totally out. Forum suppose to start at 3.30 pm but was delayed until 4.05 pm. The myth "Indian time" was well safeguarded. (Suggestion: If the key people are delayed, pse communicate to the floor or as a buffer play some short video clips to kill time).
2. The Q&A was pushed to the end. This actually killed the interest of the crowd and whole forum. The enthusiasm among the crowd was missing due to questions not allowed in between. Questions asked were held back. Anxiety from the floor was high but poorly addressed by speakers. Speakers must not rush to finish their session.
3. The closing was abrupt. Suddenly the forum came to an end. It caught every one by surprise. Time management was bad.
Overall, the forum was very informative and educational.
I like to thank Hindraf and its organizing committee for a community service and job "well done".
I wish similar forums are held in Kedah and all other states in Peninsular Malaysia.
Best Regards
Gobalan Senthivel (MBA/Diploma in Training and Development),
HRM/Training Consultant and Facilitator
MP: 0125918587
e-mail: Gobalan_21@yahoo.com