Kuala Lumpur: In a bid to preserve the Indian language and culture, the ethnic Indian parents have been requested to send their children to the local Tamil schools.
"Tamil schools and temples played a major role in preserving Indian language, religion and culture," assembly member S Kesavan was quoted as saying by Tamil daily Malaysia Nanban.
Kesavan, who is Opposition youth deputy president from Perak, felt that the exodus of estate workers to urban areas left many of these schools with low pupil enrolment, which would only lead to their closure.
He said the five states ruled by the Opposition alliance would allocate land so that Tamil schools could be rebuilt and urged the Federal Government to set aside funds to construct the schools.
The majority of the ethnic Indians in Malaysia are Tamils. Their forefathers were brought by the British almost 200 years ago to work in plantation estates.
Ethnic Indians form eight per cent of the Malaysian population of 27 million people.
