Hindu temple in Malaysia adopts school

KUALA LUMPUR - The managing committee of a Hindu temple in Malaysia has adopted a school for people of Indian origin. The move has been welcomed by a newspaper that has urged other shrines to emulate it.

Arulmigu Veera Muniswarar temple committee in Gunung Hijau, Batu Gajah, Perak state, has adopted the Tamil school.

Students will be provided with textbooks and school material, and the committee will help with transport for the poor pupils, committee adviser R. Damodaran said.

Malaysia Namban newspaper urged other temple committees to emulate this as many Tamil schools and their parent-teacher associations were facing problems.

Malaysia is home to nearly two million people of Indian origin, a bulk of whom are Tamils who settled here during the British era. They have built thousands of temples. They came here as tea garden labourers and many of them remain poor.