So 'proud'!

Wow, my school appearred in the newspaper!

Gombak school also segregates boys and girls

KUALA LUMPUR: It appears that SMK Seremban Jaya in Senawang is not the only co-ed school to have practised segregation.

The boys and girls at SMK Hillcrest in Gombak, apart from having to sit in separate rows in the classrooms, also sit on separate benches at the school canteen.
A check by The Star discovered that they were also required to use different staircases.

Break time: Boys and girls have to sit separately at SMK Hillcrest’s canteen.According to a schoolgirl there, this was the normal practice as it was also carried out at her primary school, SK Taman Seri Gombak, located not far from SMK Hillcrest.

“If we are caught taking the boy’s staircase or vice versa, we would be given two demerit points and when the points total up to 30, action will be taken against us.

“I don’t know what the punishment is, perhaps we might be suspended,” she said.
When asked the reason for separate staircases, another schoolgirl said that it was the school’s policy to provide some form of protection for girls.

“The boys are a bit rough at times, perhaps the school authorities do not want them to knock into the girls,” she added.

A parent who has a child studying at SMK Hillcrest confirmed that male and female students sat in different rows in the classroom.
The use of separate staircases had also been implemented at SK Taman Sri Gombak since the middle of last year, she said.

She added that the practice was not proper, as young children should be taught to respect one another regardless of their gender.

On Thursday, Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom, when asked to comment on the segregation issue at SMK Seremban Jaya, said the ministry did not have a policy of segregating boys and girls.

The school’s principal could not be reached for comment.