Tamil school PTA wants action taken against HM

THE Parent Teacher Association of a Tamil school in Batu Kawan, Penang, has demanded that action be taken against the headmistress who is said to have lodged three police reports over trivial matters, Malaysia Nanban reported.

The PTA chairman P. Gnana­sun­thal said the headmistress refused to work with the PTA to resolve concerns raised by them regarding the school’s performance.

She was also against accepting funds provided by the state government, which meant the students did not receive all the resources they need, he claimed.

Any plans and proposals from the PTA would also get shot down without consideration, leaving parents dissatisfied, he said.

Instead of discussing the diffe­rences, the headmistress would lodge police reports over trivial matters, bringing the school into disrepute.

The PTA has asked the state education authorities to intervene.

Johor crown prince scoffs at '1Malaysia', moots 'Bangsa Johor' schools

Johor crown prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim has criticised Putrajaya's "1Malaysia" slogan, questioning whether it really promotes unity as claimed.

"I hope in the near future... the Johor government will introduce an education module for Johoreans. We'll make Bangsa Johor.

"Malaysia has it too - 1Malaysia. But answer me, where is 1Malaysia?

"You have Indian schools, you have Chinese schools, you have Malay schools. From young, you tell them not to be united.

"Then when they grow up, you tell them to be united?" he said in a dialogue session which was later uploaded on the Johor Southern Tigers Facebook page.

Tunku Ismail said he envisioned a different direction for Johor's education system.

"In future, there will not be Indian, Chinese or Malay schools in Johor... There will only be Bangsa Johor schools.

"From a young age, we'll teach them how to be united, how to respect each other's religion and how to respect other races," he said.

However, he said religious schools would be retained for the purposes of the religion.

"You need to educate young Johoreans. They must know Johor's history. They must know the strengths of Johor and why the federal government needs us," he said.

Tunku Ismail went on to suggest that Johor should emulate the assertiveness of Sarawak.

"Look at Sarawak, Sarawak is smart, Sarawak is united. That is why when Sarawak rants something, the (federal) government has to listen.

"If there is no Sarawak, they would be gone. If there is no Johor, they would also be gone.

"This is the important part, when you (Johoreans) are united, the Johor government has more power and can speak up. It can do anything and they (the federal government) is forced to listen because they need our support," he said.

Foundation donates RM30,000 to school

The Penang Nattukottai Chettiar Foundation donated RM30,000 to the Ramakrishna Tamil school to upgrade its 21st Century Classroom, Makkal Osai reported.

SJK (T) Ramakrishna, which operates on the grounds of the Ramakrishna Ashram in Penang, recently made the country proud with several victories in international science tournaments.

In order to ensure the school continues to excel in such competitions, the foundation has decided to upgrade the school’s 21st Century Classroom to help students explore their interest in science and robotics.

Headmistress K. Puvaneswari said the foundation’s help was timely as ensuring the classrooms were up to date would incur a cost.

Last year, three students from the school beat 300 others from around the world in a youth science creation competition in Beijing, China.

Video: Slim River Tamil school parents and activist disappointments

Slim River Tamil school parents fear for their children’s safety

Parents of SRJK (T) Slim River school students are incredibly dissapointed by authorities lack of urgency to fix the schools termite problem that had been reported in 2011.

The Malaysia Times (TMT) today spoke to some of the concern parents outside the school, where they voiced their concern over their children’s safety.

Jayshree, 40, said that it has been five years since a complaint was made and four years since the Public Works Department (JKR) has reported that the building is not safe to be used.

“My son is now nine years old and still in danger, how long do they expect us to sit and wait,” Jayshree told TMT.

Meanwhile, Pooveneswary, 33, vented: “Are they waiting for something bad to happen to one of the children before they start doing their job.”

She said that even though the kindergarten children have been moved to the library, everyone still has to use the canteen, so they are all still in danger.

Arulmany, 38, said that the school had made the reports initially but after a couple of years had become less aggressive to get the building rebuilt.

S. Jeevaratnam said that he has personally funded the school as well to fix their minor things, but said that as this is a government building it can’t be demolished and rebuilt by just anyone.

“It’s worrying when things are out of your hands and your child’s safety is corn , it is very worrying,” he said.

“I have a cousin whom studied in the school almost 16 years ago and she said that the canteen is the same since she started studying,” said Arulmany.

The kindergarten and canteen building in the school has been labeled as unfit as it is infested by termites by the Public Works Department (JKR) in 2012,and that the building should be demolished.

200 student and 35 kindergarten students and several other teachers and staff currently accommodate the school.

Vernacular schools and national unity

By Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman

I was once racist, a by-product of a system which celebrates the segregation of race during one’s formative years. I lived in my own echo chamber, free from the liberating influence of racial diversity.

This radically changed when I enrolled myself into the Royal Military College, Malaysia’s most diverse boarding school.

Division is a seed best planted in earliest years. After the turn of the millennium, it was reported that more than 25 percent of Malaysian students are enrolled into vernacular schools. These schools were part of a system that allows parents to decide that race defines their children’s education.

In a country where racial segregation happens in numerous levels, vernacular schools have become dearly held and gleefully internalised. Granted, racial unity is not only formed in school; however, it plays a critical role in the formation of one’s identity and beliefs. Often social circles are created at schools, if for no other reason than the sheer amount of time spent there.

The more diverse schools are, the more likely that these social circles will reflect that diversity.

One reason some people believe we should not oppose vernacular schools is because they perform well. I find this argument problematic in that it presumes the teaching of particular languages and cultures lead to a superior level of thinking.

Does this also mean that all the UiTM’s across Malaysia are substandard due to its espousal of Malay culture? These universities also educate a small number of non-Malay bumiputra, similar to how vernacular schools host a fragment of Malays. If we are against the existence of universities like UiTM, then why are we not also against vernacular schools?

These two examples may be looking at different levels of education but I feel that they are both structured on race-based models.

If we are to truly combat a race-based education model, the best place to start is at school - a place which incubates a person’s moral compass which will then be carried forward to the years in university. But our education system is broken and every single stream has its own gaping discrepancies.

My opposition of vernacular schools is not an unwavering endorsement of national schools by any means. Instead it actually places immense pressure on the government to better the unified school system since all parties are affected. It becomes a national issue, and one no longer divided along racial lines.

A matter of making a better curriculum

Another reason people believe in vernacular schools is in learning of languages. I personally do not understand why we need exclusive schools to acquire proficient level of one or more languages. It is a matter of making a better curriculum and offering those options in national schools.

I feel it is critical that Malaysians from all races have an opportunity to master the national language as one to unite us all.

The intersectionality of races is what sets our country apart from others. However, the ability to choose what elements of a race one wishes to have and what elements of other races one wishes to acquire is what would make us multicultural. Boxing our dreams in schools only drifts us apart.

Thirdly, people also believe they ought to protect vernacular schools because it protects a certain culture. Malaysia needs to extend more opportunity for learning about all of the cultures and realise that we are not just about one or three races.

To some extent, all of these identities must influence the Malaysian identity. There needs to be stronger institutions. The institutions need to be empowered and funded in ways to ensure that history, progress, elements of non-Malay, such as the Chinese and Indian cultures, continue to be spread.

These are some of the oldest and richest cultures in the world and the whole nation needs to learn about them. There is no reason to restrict such priorities to particular schools.

According to the Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB), bumiputera students now make up 94 percent of enrollment in national primary schools. This means that national schools are no longer ‘national’. A wall has been created to separate our children by race.

I find it hypocritical of those who advocate against race-based politics to oppose a non-race based education system. Similarly, I find it hypocritical for those who advocate against vernacular schools to champion Malay-exclusive schools or religious schools. A compromise must be made by both sides.

Politics can be a divisive force, but that division is constructed and incubated by an education system which divides us from young. Once you move beyond the claims we have gotten used to making because we have gotten used to conforming and making do with substandard political gamesmanship; you realise that the alternative is perhaps in a new system.

I hope that this system is one that we have to voice out for and that will provide STEM education in English. One to inspire our children to learn and not cram and that will prepare Malaysians for the world stage. One that will make us all multilingual, multicultural and proud Malaysians.

There is a wall separating our children today and we need to tear down this wall.

Sabah delegate defends vernacular schools

The government should focus on raising the standard of the national language in vernacular schools.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah delegate, Taufiq Abu Bakar Titingan, told the Umno General Assembly on Friday that Orang Asal students form a near majority, if not a majority, in many Chinese schools in Sabah.

He was explaining why he was not in favour of any move to close down vernacular schools in the country.

Citing figures, he said 84 per cent of one Chinese school in Sabah were Orang Asal.

He disclosed that 15,120 out of 35,162 students in Chinese vernacular schools were Orang Asal.

“If we close these schools, where are they going to go?” he asked.

“We want all Malaysians to be able to speak the national language fluently, no matter which schools they attended.”

He conceded that many students in vernacular schools were not proficient enough in the national language and suggested that more efforts be put in to raise the standard of the Malay language in these schools.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in a recent blog posting on the education system dividing the people, said the natives in Sabah and Sarawak preferred to send their children to Chinese schools.

Make Tamil and Chinese compulsory in national schools

If national schools can be strengthened by introducing Tamil and Chinese, vernacular schools can be closed down.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: One Umno delegate thinks that he has found a way to do away with vernacular schools: make Tamil and Chinese compulsory in the Malay-medium national schools.

He did not say whether Malay students in national schools would be required to learn Tamil and Chinese as well.

It was vital for Putrajaya to strengthen national schools, said delegate Mustafa Musa, before it attempted to shut down Tamil and Chinese schools.

“Include the Tamil and Chinese languages in the curriculum of national schools and make it compulsory,” he said in giving his take on the policy speech by party president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. “We lose nothing in learning more to adapt to change.”

“If national schools are strengthened that way, completely equipped with computers, with Tamil and Chinese subjects, this is an alternative to the beginning of single-stream schools. And there will be no reason for anyone to say national schools are weak.”

So we strengthen our own schools, he stressed, “before we shut down other schools”.

Mustafa did not say in his speech whether it’s ever possible for Putrajaya, given its history of flip flops, to give iron-clad guarantees that the Tamil and Chinese languages in national schools would not be abolished once the vernacular schools are closed down.

He also did not touch on the arguments of Tamil and Chinese educationists that it’s a human and universal right for a child to be educated in his or her own mother-tongue. Having just Tamil and Chinese as subjects in national schools, and later doing away with vernacular schools, compromises this right.

Among the Chinese community in particular, Chinese schools reflect the importance of Chinese students having the Chinese character, the result of 4,000 years of recorded civilization.

Tamils point out that their language is 8,000 years old.

MP: Ministry flip-flops on Sungai Bakap Tamil school

MCA: School segregation like 50s US racism

 

MCA has decried a report of racial segregation at a primary school in Setapak as reminiscent of the discriminatory treatment of African-Americans in the 50s.

Responding to a Malay Mail Online (MMO) article today, MCA senator Chong Sin Woon said if the report is true, the said school's instructions must be "chastised and immediately rescinded".

"The situation must be rectified by the school authorities and the Education Ministry, including a warning letter issued to the school official who mandated such a prejudiced directive," said Chong (left), who is also MCA Youth chief.

He likened the scenario to the  “separate but equal doctrine" in 50s America, in which Africa-Americans were placed in separate and substandard classes.

"MCA Youth shudders at the thought that similar discriminatory practices, although unintended by the school authorities, may befall the non-Muslims pupils placed in the second grade.

"Similar to the non-white pupils, we do not want non-Muslim pupils to grow up insecure, with a lack of confidence at their own religion," said Chong.

MMO today reported Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan (right) saying that the said segregation is not allowed and should never have happened.

The daily reported a parent's complaint that her 10-year-old son is to be placed in a separate class next year despite obtaining top grades.

The school was reported as saying the move was due to  a shortage of teachers teaching moral studies and Mandarin.

The school’s senior assistant had stressed that the move was to better manage the timetable for Muslim and non-Muslim pupils.

“Once implemented, it will be easier to manage the students for the different subjects,” the senior assistant said, quotes MMO.

However, Chong said the school can easily arrange a separate class for Mandarin and moral studies anytime as practised in other national schools throughout the country, even if such classes are to be held after school hours.

Incident proof vernacular schools not the culprits

Chong opines that students will neglect their studies if they are not taught from young to be merit-oriented as some may think that they will automatically enter the top class while top scholars know they will always be relegated to an inferior-ranked class.

The MCA education consultative committee deputy chairperson also said the particular incident showed how intolerant upbringing occurs at national schools.

“For all too long, detractors have unfairly and without basis, sullied vernacular schools as a hindrance towards national unity.

“(However), the incident indicates that condemnations against vernacular schools are groundless because such intolerant upbringing occurs at national schools,” he said.

Stressing that it is the responsibility of the school authorities and educators to inculcate national unity among pupils from a young age, Chong argued that this is because children are innocent and do not know racism and religious bigotry.

“These traits are never in-born but nurtured over time by bigoted adults,” he said.

He also reiterated MCA Youth’s call for a review of the History textbook syllabus.

“This is so that accurate facts and terminology are taught, to portray and construct national unity, rather than racial stereotypes,” he said.

Malay groups clamour for end to Chinese, Tamil vernacular schools

(Malay Mail Online) – A massive Malay rights convention proposed today for vernacular education to be abolished, even as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said such calls would cause Umno to forfeit the support of the ethnic Chinese.

According to the so-called National Unity Convention, the existence of vernacular primary and secondary schools opposed the goal of the Education Act 1961 and is an obstacle towards achieving national unity among the young generation.

“It is time for the Malaysian government to abolished a three-stream education system. Specifically, it is time for the Malaysian government to abolish the Chinese and Tamil primary and secondary system.

“It should implement only the national school system for the primary and secondary stages, for every citizens, regardless of race,” said a memorandum drafted during the convention here.

The convention today was organised by a coalition of 58 Malay NGOs, and was attended by over 300 groups, to debate and pass a National Unity Memorandum draft to be delivered to Putrajaya and the Malay rulers, among others.

The memorandum also contained the allegation that the vernacular system has polarised Malaysians according to race, religion and culture.

“The Malaysian government must be strict and not compromise with anybody in implementing this. This strictness is needed because the current system is not conducive towards the effort of nourishing and strengthening national unity in Malaysia,” it said.

Several delegates who debated the memorandum had also echoed the sentiment, with a Federation of Peninsula Malay Students (GPMS) representative urging for vernacular schools to be phased out by 2020.

Chinese vernacular schools will be among the topics discussed during next week’s Umno General Assembly, after party vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein announced that the subject was included in the agenda.

Controversy over vernacular schools was triggered again when Petaling Jaya Utara Umno deputy division chief Mohamad Azli Mohamed proposed to discuss abolishing Chinese-medium schools at the party’s general assembly later this month, claiming the schools to be hotbeds for racism and anti-establishment sentiments.

The statement sparked a flurry of angry responses from Chinese leaders, with MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai demanding a police investigation to determine whether or not Mohamad Azli’s statement was seditious.

Noting that Chinese support is gradually improving, Umno president Najib said in an interview with Malay daily Mingguan Malaysia today that such calls were undermining the endeavours to regain the backing of the group that is vital to the party’s electoral performance.

Gerakan gets lessons on ‘mother tongue education’

DAP is a multi racial party and champions the right to learn one's mother tongue as enshrined in the Constitution.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Seputeh MP Teresa Kok has called on Gerakan, in a stinging rebuke, not to divert attention from the real issue i.e. that Barisan Nasional (BN) Ministers have low or no confidence in the national education system and policy.

She was taking issue with Gerakan vice president Dominic Lau criticising DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang in a Chinese daily as being inconsistent by challenging BN ministers to send their children to national schools while he himself sent his own children to English schools.

Lau had also questioned why Kit Siang was championing Chinese primary schools and independent Chinese secondary schools, when he did not send his children to such schools.

“Lau does not seem to know that the English schools which Kit Siang‘s children attended were then part of the national education system,” said Kok in springing to Lim’s defence.

“His attacks on Kit Siang are therefore wrong and also prove his ignorance about the national education system.”

Kok asked Lau to answer two questions, namely whether Gerakan leaders and members sent their children to Chinese primary schools and independent Chinese secondary schools; and was it Gerakan policy that only those who have sent their children to such schools are qualified to champion them.

Kok pointed out that DAP was a multi racial party and that party leaders and members, regardless of race, supported and championed the right to learn one‘s mother tongue as enshrined in the Constitution.

“The party also has a firm stand that the government’s educational policies must be fair and just,” she said

Keep emotions out of vernacular school debate

Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein says debate should be realistic and focus on unity.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Speakers have been reminded not to be emotional when debating the existence of vernacular schools at the Umno general assembly.

Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein said they should be realistic and focus on unity.

“A multi-stream education system can unite us. There is no single solution to our problems. I believe the speakers are matured as this is not something new,” he told a press conference after a session with Bona Fide Friends of Umno (BFF) organised by the Umno Constitution and Legal Bureau at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).

He was commenting about the possibility of debate on the existence of vernacular schools in the country by Umno delegates at the Umno general assembly starting Tuesday.

Many Umno members have claimed that the existence of vernacular schools in the country had strained racial ties in Malaysia, with some wanting the issue to be debated at the coming Umno general assembly.

Hishammuddin said the vernacular school issue should be debated in a rational and realistic manner and not just for fun.

“We want our children to be educated without strong racial and religious sentiments that will derail our efforts to create a united nation,” he added.

Would Najib ask all the 34 UMNO/BN Ministers who send their children to private or international schools, whether local or foreign, to resign for their lack of confidence in the Umno/BN national education policy and system?

By Lim Kit Siang Blog

Malaysians must thank the former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad for highlighting the scandal of more and more Umno/BN Ministers and leaders sending their children to private or international schools, whether local or foreign, as it has been a standing example in the past decades of the hypocrisy of UMNO/BN leaders who preach one thing for ordinary Malaysians but do the exact opposite for themselves and their family.

Would the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak ask all the 34 Umno/BN Ministers who send their children to private or international schools, whether local or foreign, to resign for their lack of confidence in the Umno/BN national education policy and system?

I have been informed that one of the first things a Minister of the Najib Cabinet did on his appointment was to transfer one of his children to an international school.

Why?

Is this because Malaysia’s education system sucks, stuck in the bottom third of the countries surveyed in international assessments and not making any significant moves towards the upper tier of the top one-third of the countries with 15-year-olds in Shanghai, Singapore and South Korea performing as though they had four or even five more years of schooling than 15-years-olds in Malaysia in mathematics, science and reading?

Recent world university rankings show a power shift from the West, in particular the United States and United Kingdom, to the East, with for example 24 Asian Universities listed in the top 200 universities in the 2014 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings compared with 20 a year earlier – led by Tokyo University and National University of Singapore in the top 25.

But this seismic shift in the continuing erosion of United States and United Kingdom domination of global higher education and the inexorable rise of Asian universities seemed to have completely by-passed Malaysia, despite our annual massive expenditures on education.

This trend was confirmed in the release of the US News and World Report’s 500 Best Global Universities Ranking 2015 last month, where the country’s premier university, the University of Malaya is the only university listed in the very lowly position of No. 423.

Even more serious, Malaysia is only placed in two of the 2,100 slots for 100 Best Global Universities for 21 subjects, i.e. Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) placed in the 54th rank in the 100 Best Global Universities for agricultural science, and University Sains Malaysia (USM) ranked No. 87 in the 100 Best Global Universities for engineering.

It is scandalous and shameful that out of the 2,100 slots for 100 Best Global Universities for 21 subjects, Malaysia’s 21 public universities which have a total of over 200 schools for different disciplines, could only manage to be placed in the 100 Best Global University slots for two subjects – agricultural science for UPM and engineering for USM.

Malaysians would have expected the University of Malaya, as the premier university of the country which have 12 faculties, two academies, five institutes and five centres, to be ranked among the 100 Best Global Universities in at least half a dozen subject areas since it got ranked as No. 423 in the 500 Best Global Universities Rankings 2015.

This is because universities which were on par with UM in terms of academic excellence and standards half a century ago, like University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, University of Melbourne and University of Sydney are ranked in the 100 Best Global Universities in more than a dozen subject areas.

National University of Singapore is 100 Best Global Universities for 15 subjects, University of Hong Kong in 13 subjects, University of Melbourne for 16 subjects and University of Sydney in 13 subjects.

Singapore, with three universities, wins 20 of the 2,100 slot for the 100 Best Global Universities for 21 subjects, i.e. National University of Singapore (15), Nanyang Technological University (4) and Singapore Management University (1).
Even Mahidol University of Thailand, which is below University of Malaya, being ranked No. 453 in the 500 Best Global Universities Rankings 2015, is rated as the 100 Best Global Universities for two subject areas – immunology and microbiology.

But Umno/BN Ministers and leaders are not really concerned about the deteriorating standards of education and higher education in Malaysia because they have themselves no confidence in the Umno/BN education system and policy and have long ago ensured that their children opted out of the system altogether.
How many Umno/BN Ministers and leaders dare to declare that they do not send their children to private or international schools, local or foreign?

Will UMNO delegates next week demand that all the 18 UMNO Ministers and 17 UMNO Deputy Ministers should each make a public declaration whether their children and grandchildren are educated under the national education system or whether they have been educated in private or international schools, local or foreign?

Dr M: Education system dividing Malaysians

Nothing in the Federal Constitution provided for vernacular schools and maintaining them was a political decision.

FMT

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in his latest blog posting, conceded that the poor are being forced to put up with inferior education so that politicians can continue to be popular.

He notes that the rich, including the children of the politicians, are going to English medium schools abroad and international schools in the country while the poor go to the Malay-medium based national schools when they are not attending vernacular schools.

The Tamils and Chinese, for example, go to vernacular schools. Meanwhile, the Orang Asal in Sabah and Sarawak prefer to send their children to Chinese schools along with a handful of Malay students.

The bottomline, says Mahathir who was education minister from 1974 to 1978, is that the education system is dividing the country along the lines of race and class and widening the gap between rich and poor.

He warned that the job market favours the English-speaking, confined increasingly now to the rich, while the poor in the country only speak Tamil, Chinese and Malay.

He admitted that although all his children went to national schools, his grandchildren attended private schools in Malaysia and abroad.

“They do speak the national language but their kind of schooling widens the gap between races as well as between the rich and poor,” he lamented.

“National schools were supposed to bring us all together as a nation.”

He goes into the history of education in the country, what was happening at the dawn of independence in 1957 and what was supposed to happen but didn’t.

He warns that the return to Malay in the teaching of mathematics and science would be a loss of knowledge for the nation and would not be good for the poor.

English schools at the time of independence, noted Mahathir, were attended by all ethnic groups. “Apart from racial separation because of the ethnic language-based schools, we now see a separation of rich children and poor children,” he reiterated in his blog posting.

He said that nothing in the Federal Constitution provided for vernacular schools and maintaining them was a political decision.

The case for vernacular schools

By Lim Teck Ghee

Umno vice president Hishammuddin Hussein is anticipating that the motion on vernacular schools will be the hottest topic at his party’s general assembly to be held next fortnight (Nov 25-29).
The call to abolish vernacular schools, termed Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan – SRJK (C) for those using Mandarin as medium of instruction and SRJK (T) for those using Tamil – is expected to dominate the debate by Umno delegates.

Among the SRJK vocal critics are Umno’s Cheras division chief Syed Ali Alhabshee and Petaling Jaya Utara deputy division chief Mohamad Azli Mohemed Saad.

Urging their abolishment, Syed Ali said vernacular schools are seen as the platform for fostering thick racial sentiments. He was reported by FMT on Oct 7 as saying that such a negative development could bring about division and discord between the youth of various races in the country.

Syed Ali is an advocate of single-stream education where all primary schools must teach in the national language, Bahasa Melayu, in the Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK).

Meanwhile, Mohamad Azli was quoted by the NST in its Oct 5 article ‘Umno assembly should discuss position of Chinese schools’ as calling upon the annual convention at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) to discuss whether multi-streaming should be maintained.

“Many are of the opinion that Chinese vernacular schools have been exploited by opposition parties to incite hatred towards other races, and spread racial and anti-government sentiments,” he said.’
It is against this backdrop of the above allegations and a predicted-to-be explosive Umno meeting that the Nov 11 forum titled ‘Should there be one stream of schooling in Malaysia?’ was jointly organised by Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia with the LLG, Tamil Foundation, Ikram, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH), Aliran and the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST).

Presenting the vernacular school viewpoint

Held yesterday evening at the LLG Cultural Development Centre in Kuala Lumpur, the forum sought to bring the debate into neutral and open ground. (The eponymous LLG centre is named after Chinese educationist Lim Lian Geok).

Among the forum speakers was Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI) director Dr Lim Teck Ghee.
In his presentation, Dr Lim said that while government policy on multi-stream education has remained unchanged, certain Malay nationalist groups as well as a few Umno leaders were still continuing with their campaign of agitation aimed at closing down vernacular schools.

Dr Lim described some of these people as being professional agitators who were bent on creating racial strife and attempting to cast the SRJKs as a scapegoat for the country’s race relations crisis.
According to him, the academicians and professionals who were supporting these agitational groups were either ignorant or “apple polishers” seeking to curry favour with the political masters.

Racial discrimination is most divisive factor

There is no empirical evidence to show that vernacular schools undermine national unity, Dr Lim noted. Neither can it be proved that the currently almost mono-ethnic national schools advanced racial integration in any way superior to the role played by vernacular schools.

What evidence there is, Dr Lim explained, indicated that ethnic heterogenous interaction in the so-called “integrated schools” had resulted in disunity and mistrust rather than help bring about unity and integration.

Highlighting a study conducted in 1968-69, he said the poll taken of 7,000 students had found race-based affirmative action to be the factor most responsible for creating inter-ethnic mistrust among the respondents.

The survey had covered 34 secondary schools with mixed student population. Aside from their multiracial enrolment, the schools surveyed were also those where competition for educational mobility was most pronounced.

Dr Lim expressed his belief that the finding is likely to be confirmed by a new study if one were to be done today. He suggested that it is overall government policies on race and religion in the socioeconomic and cultural areas that should be examined and blamed for the deterioration in national unity and integration.

SRJKs included in National Education Blueprint 

Observing how SRJKs are increasingly the school of choice for many non-Chinese parents, Dr Lim pointed out that data from the National Education Blueprint revealed Chinese schools to have at present a more multiracial enrolment compared with SKs.

“Most Malaysians are aware that the diversity of school systems is an advantage in our increasingly globalised world and competitive economy,” he opined.

The blueprint, which is the country’s education roadmap for the next dozen years up to 2025, has reiterated that the diversity of cultures and peoples is fundamental to Malaysian identity. It additionally reaffirms the conventional philosophy that students learn best when taught in their mother tongue through their formative years.

The way forward

In his concluding remarks, Dr Lim called on Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to provide a White Paper in support of his own recent statement in Parliament that the government has been fair in its allocation to the different schooling streams.

Dr Lim said this reassurance is necessary due to widespread public perception that the SRJKs continue to be discriminated against and treated as “stepchildren” by the government and the Ministry of Education.

Full disclosure of funding allocation, school-building policy, school and class enrolment size and other pertinent issues, he added, would help put to rest the pervasive concern. Otherwise non-Malays might consider SRJKs to be the convenient political football that is kicked around whenever the Malay power centre is under duress.

Let all the 33 Cabinet Ministers reveal whether their children and grandchildren had been educated under the national education system or whether they are products of private and international schools, at home or abroad

By Lim Kit Siang Blog,

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir has warned that the social-economic disparity in Malaysia will grow bigger with rich parents sending their children to study English in international schools and abroad while the poor are left behind in national and vernacular schools here.

The former Prime Minister was not revealing any secret when he said that Ministers send their children to private schools and international schools which use largely English as the teaching medium, whether at home or abroad, as this phenomenon started not now but during his 22-year premiership from 1981-2003.

Surely Mahathir was not unaware that his own Ministers were sending their children to private and international schools, whether locally or abroad, demonstrating their lack of confidence in the national education policy and system?

Although the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had boasted that Malaysian youngsters are receiving better education than children in the United States, Britain and Germany, even UMNO leaders and delegates do not believe him – which is why he would not dare to ask the Umno General Assembly to endorse his claim as he would be in for a shocker!

It is true is that the problem of lack of confidence in the BN national education system and policy is now even more serious than in the past, and undoubtedly, there are more UMNO/BN Ministers and leaders who are sending their children to private and international schools, locally or abroad, at present than during Mahathir’s time.

Let all the 33 Cabinet Ministers reveal whether their children and grandchildren had been educated under the national education system or whether they are products of private and international schools, at home or abroad.

Education is one important reason for the crisis of confidence in the Umno/BN government and leadership and why the majority of the national electorate had voted against UMNO/BN in the 13th General Elections resulting in the formation of a minority government and Prime Minister for the first time in Malaysian history.

Recently, former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah lamented that Malaysia isn’t getting what it paid for despite pouring billions into the country’s education system.

He said Malaysia spent double than other Asean countries on education in terms of ratio to gross domestic product, more than Japan and South Korea in 2011, but “the heavy spending on education in terms of gross domestic product ratio is not worth it, or at least it does not give the desired return in terms of quality and increased productivity”.

Malaysia may have achieved the notoriety of having spent most on education in terms of ratio to gross domestic product but yet having the least confidence in the national education system among the country’s government and political leadership, including Ministers and Deputy Ministers, whose children opt out of the national education system.

These are the real issues which the UMNO General Assembly should focus on, why Malaysia is stuck in the bottom third of the countries surveyed in international assessments and not making any significant moves towards the upper tier of the top one-third of the countries; why 15-year-olds in Shanghai, Singapore and South Korea are performing in international assessments as though they had four or even five more years of schooling than 15-years-olds in Malaysia in mathematics, science and reading, instead of resorting to the histrionics and hysterics of racist politics as calling for the closure of Chinese primary schools.

Sabah speaker: Call to abolish vernacular schools ‘extreme’

(The Star) – The call to abolish all vernacular schools has been condemned by Datuk Seri Salleh Tun Said, as they have long been a part and parcel of the national education system.

“Any proposal to abolish vernacular schools is an extreme or outrageous view,” said the Sabah Legislative Assembly Speaker at the Lok Yuk Kindergarten Jinshan’s 20-year anniversary celebration and opening of its RM150,000 games hall building, financed by the Federal Government in Kota Belud.

He added that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had previously given assurance that vernacular schools would continue to be a part of the education system.

“Vernacular schools play an important role in providing educational opportunities to all groups in the Malaysian society, especially in Sabah which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious,” he said, adding that Bumiputera students commonly study in vernacular schools there.

In October, several Barisan Nasional leaders came forward to defend vernacular schools, claiming that in addition to educating children on their mother tongue, it also serves as a ground to encourage mutual respect and understanding among a multi-racial society.

Deputy Petaling Jaya Utara Umno chief Mohamad Azli Mohemed Saad had earlier called for a discussion on the abolishment of vernacular schools during the party’s general assembly.

On Thursday, deputy MCA president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said that the Government had no intention of closing down vernacular schools.

Wee, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had said that Chinese schools were a part of the country’s legacy as they had been operating even before independence.

Vernacular education a political football for those seeking fame, say experts

 

The debate on whether to abolish vernacular schools is being sparked and fuelled by Malaysian politicians out to make a name for themselves instead of being based on any hard facts, experts told a forum last night.

They told the forum in capital city Kuala Lumpur that Malay supremacist leaders' allegations that vernacular schools cause disunity had no basis and was not backed by evidence.

Policy analyst Dr Lim Teck Ghee said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government – which some of these politicians are a part of – had made it clear that there was no evidence that mother-tongue education caused communal disunity.

“There is also no proof that Sekolah Kebangsaan (national schools) foster unity,” said Lim at a forum titled “Should there be one stream of schooling in Malaysia?”

“These people have no evidence to back up their arguments. In reality, there is no evidence that our vernacular school system causes disunity."

Primary schooling is compulsory in Malaysia with schools using Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin or Tamil as the medium of instruction but of late, private schools are mushrooming with a focus on English as the language of choice.

What is more ironic is that when it comes to disunity among students, the Najib administration may have made matters worse, said Lim of the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI).

This is because according to the National Education Blueprint (NEB), the administration had cut funding to a primary school programme meant to foster intercommunal ties between children of different school types, he said.

The forum was organised to discuss the debate over whether vernacular schools caused disunity. The claims were recently made by Malay supremacist groups and Umno politicians.

The latter are asking the government to get rid of the vernacular school system as they claim it causes a rift between Malaysia’s three biggest communities – the Indians, Chinese and Malays.

They believe that all students should be forced into a single-stream school.

Lim said it was logistically impossible to get rid of the about 1,300 semi-national Chinese SJK(C) and Tamil SJK(T) primary schools which currently have 700,000 pupils.

“The authors of the NEB themselves say that the diversity in our school systems is an advantage and they have even called on the government to support them.”

When it comes to fostering unity between different students, the NEB wants the government to expand RIMUP (Pupils Integration Plan for Unity) programmes on all school, said Lim.

Instead, funding for RIMUP programmes have steadily gone down since 2007 when it was first launched. In that year RIMUP received RM25.4 million but in 2011, it only received RM2.4 billion, he said.

Another speaker, Wan Saiful Wan Jan of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), pointed out that the politicians agitating against communal disunity are themselves from ethic-based parties.

“There is this hypocrisy when it comes to the subject of disunity. And they blame our schools,” said Wan Saiful who is CEO of the Ideas think tank.

The entire school system, however, should be revamped, he said, to put more choices in the hands of parents on what schools they want their children to go to.

The current system, he said, was based on an old Prussian Empire model from 1806 which was more suited to creating obedient soldiers and workers instead of critical thinkers.

“The system should be decentralised and depoliticised,” he said.

Instead of funding schools, the funds should go to each individual student and parents can choose which schools to send them to, Wan Saiful said.

According to this model, the government would set minimum standards of academic excellence and maintain public examinations. But schools would have to compete to get students.

“At the end of the day, parents would choose quality. Then the debate over this type of school does not get funding or that one gets too much would be over.”

Such a system would also create a wide variety of choices for students to learn in their own mother tongue, which is the most effective way for children to absorb knowledge.

This was echoed by K. Arumugam, an adviser for the Tamil foundation, a group that supports Tamil primary education.

According to a study done by local academics, poor Tamil children who had gone to a national school where the medium of instruction is Malay did worse than those who went to Tamil primary schools.

“This is why we were against the policy of Teaching Science and Maths in English. This is because it is quicker to pick up scientific and mathematical concepts in your mother tongue,” said Arumugam.

Schools, the speakers collectively argued, were being made into scapegoats for the problem of communal friction when in reality it was due to government policies that privileged one ethnic community over another.

For instance, Arumugam said, the focus on Bumiputera-only tertiary institutions such as Universiti Teknologi Mara came at the expense of places for non-Bumiputera at public universities.

“UITM is increasingly becoming the place where the Bumiputera go to earn their diplomas and degrees. But non-Malays have to fight for limited places in public universities.”

Lim of the CPI said that vernacular schools received less funding than national schools despite the government’s commitment to them.

“There is discrepancy between how much the government says it gives and the actual data.

“There is widespread public perception that the SJKs continue to be discriminated and treated as step children by the government.” – November 12, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/vernacular-education-a-political-football-for-those-seeking-fame-say-expert#sthash.gOAAj28N.dpuf

Vernacular schools, sedition to dominate AGM

 

Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein predicts that the motion on vernacular schools will be the dominating topic at the coming Umno general assembly.

“Apart from this, the motions concerning the Sedition Act, social media and living cost (will also be focal points),” Hishammuddin said.

There have been calls from Umno to abolish vernacular schools and establish a single stream school system.

Among those making the call is Cheras Umno division chief Syed Ali Alhabshee, who accused vernacular schools of sowing the seeds of racism and divide.

However, this claim was met with stiff opposition from various quarters, including Umno’s partners MCA and Gerakan.

As for the Sedition Act, Umno president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has come under intense pressure from his party to revoke his suggestion to repeal the Act.

According to Umno Online, Hishammuddin said the party headquarters received a total of 755 motions from 191 Umno divisions nationwide.

Out of this, he said, 638 motions are for reference and 117 motions do not require debates.

As for the 638, he added that 81 concerned amending the party constitution, 87 (on politics), 67 (economy), 74 (religion), 170 (social), 121 (education) and 38 (others).

Hishammuddin (right), who oversees the committee on motions, said several new approaches were introduced, such as a task force to check the motions from the Umno divisions.

“The task force, headed by Rosnah Abd Rashid Shirleen, also monitored, conducted follow-ups and reported the development achieved by the Umno divisions that submitted the motions.

“Apart from this, the task force was also responsible for providing a report to the committee on the motions for further action,” he added.

Hishammuddin also thanked all state Umno liaison chiefs for providing the name lists of speakers in advance.

“This is not to curtail the speakers’ freedom when delivering their speeches, but we want all of them to present their motions well,” he explained.