I guess you can’t really compare the two as it is like comparing apples with oranges. One is a government school while the other is government aided and private sector funded. As a result, the Chinese school facilities is much better than the Kebangsaan school one.

When shopping for schools, I visited  a few, both Chinese as well as Kebangsaan school because I couldn’t make up my mind on which school to send my kid to. We had to list down 3 choices when registering our children for schools and most people would either have all 3 as Chinese Schools or all 3 as Kebangsaan School. I had a mix. Hahaha. That was how undecided I was. However the school my girl was eventually sent to was not in my 3 choices. lol.

Anyway, I visited many schools but some of them were more “memorable” than the others. For example, the Kebangsaan school nearest to my house (which I considered simply because of its proximity and convenience) was very small. It’s canteen doubled up as a hall if I am not mistaken. The canteen was very small and I didn’t see a field. When the bell rang and recess time (its good to visit during school hours to observe the actual situation), the kids ran out and some sat on the floor to have their meal.

I spoke to a Chinese teacher there and she looked at me and said “Why aren’t you sending your child to a Chinese school?” Imagine that, even the teacher there did not believe in the school she taught. So sad. I asked her about the school facilities and she simply said “Just look around you. We are very small.”

Another Kebangsaan school a little further from my home was better. They had a dedicated headmaster (Its important to speak to the heads of school when you visit). The school was clean and had reasonable facilities, a music room, a computer room a nice canteen with colorful chairs and benches almost like in a fast food restaurant, open air badminton courts, a big school field, an open air school hall. There were murals everwhere done by the school children, the garden was nice, the toilets were clean and new. I almost sent my kid there and in case Chinese school don’t turn out, I guess we will try this school out.

However, the Chinese School Facilities wins hands down, especially the newer ones (or rather the ones that I visited. It may perhaps be unfair to make this an overall and simplistic comparison because I do not have statistics nor did I visit that many schools? I probably visited 2 Kebangsaan schools and 5 Chinese Schools while school hunting)  But of course  you have to be prepared to pay in the form of donation (afterall you want your kid to use these facilities don’t you) and you have to pay higher school fees to maintain these facilities.

Classrooms are airconditioned. Every classroom has a projector. There is a big school hall with indoor badminton courts, an auditorium like the size of a cinema, a small music room, a small dance room, a computer room ( my girl’s class has 42 students and she says each kid has access to one computer and there were balance after that), a library, a big field, a basketball court, a medium sized canteen. Why, its almost like a private school accept you don’t pay so much. But the culture and medium of instruction is different of course. Facilities not so different from a private school (accept for the absence of a pool in the better ones) but if you can’t accept the culture and the way things are done in a Chinese school then its not for you. Besides, all the best facilities are useless if you are not going to use them.

How are the facilities in your child’s school? Care to share? Not comparing notes here but just for information’s sake, it’ll be good for everyone to know whats available.

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