Decentralising and clustering our schools

The recent discussion to bring back English-medium schools has to be considered in the context of decentralising and clustering the different language medium schools in the country.

First of all, we should celebrate the cultural diversity that has evolved through the efforts of all our peoples through the years for, as the French say, "Vive le difference"...

Being a product of the old "government English school" myself, I can testify to the positive effects on inter-ethnic relations that we experienced in these schools where Malay, Chinese and Indian students mingled and mixed harmoniously. 

However, after Umno decided on its "ultimate objective" of making Malay the main medium of instruction in all schools (with the Razak Report), this was implemented with the National Language Bill coming into effect in 1967. 

Today, Bahasa Malaysia is the dominant medium of instruction in national schools and there is really no danger of its supersession by English-medium schools. The rest is history...

During the acrimonious episodes over the National Cultural Policy during the 1980s, I remember it was our literary spark Salleh Ben Joned who was audacious enough to suggest that maybe English medium schools should be introduced as an integrative institution instead of BM medium national schools. His daring dream met its fate in a climate in which Malay centrist fervour was at its height.

Today, the climate has shifted; the clouds have lifted but not quite. International private schools using English medium instruction can now enroll the children of the Malaysian elite and this has taken away one of the props from the Malay centrists. 

But even before this leak from the BM-dominated national education system, the Malaysian (including Umno) elite had been sending their children to elite schools in the West! Also, private colleges using English as a medium of instruction have been allowed since the 1980s, more as a safety valve to plug the unhappiness of non-Malays who could not gain admission to public sector institutions than through Umno's liberality. 

The glaring inability of new Malaysian graduates to use the English language to compete in an increasingly globalised world has further brought English medium schools into the spotlight.

Right to mother tongue education

But while I am a product of the "government English schools" and belong to a middle class background, it does not detract from the fact that the vast majority of Chinese Malaysians send their children to be schooled in their mother tongue, that is, in Chinese-medium schools and a sizeable number of Tamil-speaking parents send their children to Tamil medium schools. 

In fact, the Chinese schools of Malaysia have existed since 1819 and thus represent a Malaysian heritage that is unique in the world. I have described their history as a "protean saga" in my 1985 title.

The periodic calls by misconceived individuals to do away with Chinese and Tamil schools in this country in order to forge integration ignore this heritage and the more crucial fact that the right to mother tongue education is recognised as an international human right. 

There is even an International Mother Tongue Day which falls on Feb 21 every year. Having served in the Chinese education movement since 1983, I would advise that any attempt to do away with Chinese and Tamil schools in this country is misconceived and is doomed to failure. For the sake of the nation's progress, we would be wise to build on this heritage.

In the context of mother tongue education, English medium schools can be justified by the fact that in some middle-class Malaysian families (Malay, Chinese, Indian and even East Malaysian communities), the English language is their mother tongue. 

Therefore, there is no reason why in areas where they are needed, English medium schools cannot be built.

Local education authorities and elected local government

Although there was much heat generated by GE13, I wonder how many Malaysians noticed that the question of elected local governments was missing from the manifestoes of both coalitions.

Apart from the principle of democracy at this third tier of government, how many Malaysians see the issue of elected local governments being inextricably linked to the building of new schools?

This is not some idealistic idea borrowed from the West. Local education authorities existed at Malaya's independence in 1957 until elected local councils were done away with in 1965 under the pretext that there was the Indonesian Confrontation crisis. 

Thus, with elected local governments, the building of new schools and the maintenance of existing schools becomes decentralised and will no longer be politicised and radicalised. New schools and financial allocations for schools are simply awarded according to need of the ratepayers in the area.

The standard operating procedure for the local council is to do a survey to find out how many Malay, Chinese, Tamil or English medium schools are needed by residents in the area. Thus, there could well be English medium schools needed in areas such as Petaling Jaya, Subang, Penang, Malacca, Johor Baru and even the main towns in each state.

Is this a huge burden on the country's coffers? Ponder this fact: the cost of our two submarines (more than RM7 billion) is enough to build 7,000 schools! 

And to think that during the recent general election, there was such a fuss created by the fact that the BN government allowed one Chinese-medium school (which also has to offer the SPM) to be built in Kuantan to be financed by the Chinese community! 

I have reminded Malaysians many times already that we have fewer Chinese (1,285) and Tamil (555) schools today, compared to what we had at Independence in 1957 (1,350 and 888 respectively), when our population was half of what it is today.

The existence of local education authorities is especially meaningful to me because I studied at Manchester University (1972-75) with a grant from the Inner London Education Authority. I was entitled to it because I had been living and working in Inner London for three years from 1969 to 1972. 

This brings into focus also the issue of free education for tertiary education that was derided by the BN during the GE13. I would add that an education grant has to be means-tested, that is, students from higher-income families are entitled to a lower grant and only students from low-income families get a full grant to go to college.

Clustering schools to foster integration

Elsewhere, I have also proposed that different medium schools should be clustered in "Education Precincts" in order to promote opportunities for inter-ethnic activities. 

This is a step further from the "common extra-curricular activities" proposed by the Education Ministry during the 80s, but that were not carried out although they had been agreed to by the Chinese and Tamil schools.

Thus, in these "education precincts" where Malay, Chinese, Tamil and English medium schools are located, there would be common state-of-the-art facilities, including stadiums, libraries, theatres, IT centres and even food courts. 

Students from the different streams can take part in common cultural performances, sports and games, oratorical and debating meets and the like. 

There is no reason why this concept cannot also be applied to existing schools with new common state-of-the-art facilities built for the interest of students from all the different medium schools and common activities organised for students from the different language streams.

I must stress that this concept is different from the "Vision Schools" (Sekolah Wawasan) that was opposed by the Chinese and Tamil school lobbies in that the autonomy of each school is strenuously guaranteed.

I sincerely believe that this proposal for decentralising education through elected local councils; building new schools in the medium needed by ratepayers; means-tested education grants for tertiary education' and clustering schools with state-of-the-art facilities to foster inter-ethnic integration is the way forward for Malaysian education. 

I will welcome a response, not only from the Malaysian government but also from the Chinese and Tamil school lobbies.

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DR KUA KIA SOONG is adviser to human rights NGO Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram).