The parent-teacher association (PTA) spent RM8,000 on the fans to be placed in 20 classrooms as they had had enough of waiting for a response from the education department which they alleged had not put in efforts to resolve the problem.

“The students have been complaining to parents of their discomfort and how stuffy and hot their classrooms were. We went personally to check on this and found the claims were true,” a spokesman for the parents told FMT.

“The ceiling fans were not effective at all. So the stand fans made a lot of difference,” he said, requesting that he not be named as he feared punitive action by the authorities. The school is located in the Klang Valley.

He said the PTA regretted that the district education office had ignored the problem despite being told of it several times.

“The headmaster and teachers thanked the PTA for this huge help as they say there are just too many bureaucratic procedures involved to get the education authorities to resolve this problem,” he said.

However, the spokesperson said the problem of warm and stuffy classrooms were just one among many other unresolved issues affecting students and teachers in the school.

“The lack of space for parking is a major problem, forcing teachers to park outside the school. The classes are too big, with about 40 to 50 pupils to a class.

“Teachers are too afraid to speak up as if they do, the district education officers come looking for them. And being government servants, they can’t speak to the media,” he said.

He said the school was built in 2002 and the enrollment has been growing steadily but the school has not been extended or upgraded since its inception.

He alleged that education officials did not visit the school to find out the problems on the ground, and had allowed more pupils to be enrolled in the school without taking the trouble to find out if the school could cope.