School wants Muslim students separated from non-Muslims

The Education Ministry says the move is unjustifiable and unacceptable and plans to halt it.

KUALA LUMPUR: Whatever the argument behind religious and racial segregation in schools, it is causing unease among parents and now, ministry officials as well, according to a report on Malay Mail.

The Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan has harshly criticised this “unjustifiable and unacceptable” suggestion of a primary school in Setapak to separate Muslim students from their non-Muslim friends.

Saying, “This is not allowed. This should never happen,” Kamalanathan added that if the issue cannot be rectified at the district level, the case will be brought to the state level where he said, “I assure you most problems would be solved there.”

The school’s senior assistant however defended the move, saying it was the best way to address the acute shortage of teachers the school was currently experiencing.

The senior assistant added that the only reason students were segregated according to religion, was so their timetables could be better managed.

The first class, that would admit only Muslim students, was to facilitate the teaching of Islamic studies and Arabic while the second class for non-Muslims would greatly ease the teaching of Moral and Mandarin.

Kamalanathan, who is also MP for Hulu Selangor, did acknowledge the acute shortage of teachers for optional subjects.

He said, “It is a challenge finding a replacement when a teacher that specialises in Mandarin or Tamil language retires.

“Some of the teachers, who want to teach optional subjects like Mandarin and Tamil language, fail the tests set by the ministry and are forced to re-sit the exams.”

He explained that as long as these teachers were unqualified to teach Mandarin or Tamil, then the issue of a shortage in teachers would prolong.

Responding to a complaint from a mother that her son scored good grades yet would be relegated to the second class next year when the segregation is to be enforced, the senior assistant reassured her that both classes were considered “top classes” and that the streaming process should not be an issue.

No comment was made however when the mother also objected to her 10-year-old son being deprived of mixing freely with students of other races once the segregation was enforced.