Parents cry unfairness and double standards

PETALING JAYA: Parents are questioning why introducing khat calligraphy is an option offered exclusively to vernacular schools.

In the latest announcement, Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said that vernacular schools have the option of conducting the introduction to khat calligraphy activity with their Year Four pupils.

Teachers at national schools will still have to teach it as part of the Bahasa Melayu subject next year as scheduled.

This comes 10 days after the announcement that khat calligraphy will be taught as part of the Bahasa Melayu curriculum for Year Four pupils. But pupils will strictly not be tested on their writing skill.

Father-of-two Raymond Dairiam, 44, said this is going to drive more parents away from sending their children to national schools.

“This is definitely going to affect Mazlee’s plans to make national schools the first choice for parents, ” he claimed.

He said that making it a compulsory topic, even if it is just an introduction to khat calligraphy, is “not fair unless it’s going to improve the future of the young generation”.

“It should be an elective. Let the kid decide whether he wants to learn or not, ” he said, adding that he sends both his children to a Chinese primary school in Selangor.

“The Education Ministry should revamp the entire syllabus instead of introducing haphazard policies.

“They want to do things but there is no solid basis for its implementation.”

With students barely able to master the English and Malay languages, Dairiam said it would be better to focus on the basics instead of introducing these unnecessary topics and bogging pupils down further.

Mother-of-two Jasmin Choy, 47, said she has nothing against pupils picking up khat calligraphy.

However, she said it was more important to fix the fundamental problems affecting Malaysia’s students first.

She added that there are 12-year-old rural children who could barely master basic Science, Mathematics, English and Bahasa Malaysia.

“The four most important subjects for a Malaysian child, ” she pointed out.

A mother of four who only wanted to be known as Chee, 41, said the decision to allow Chinese and Tamil vernacular school teachers to choose whether or not they want to teach khat was “unfair” and “double standards”.

“SK, SJKT and SJKC all fall under the government’s purview. Shouldn’t the same decision be made across the board for all such schools?

“This would just create uneven teaching and learning in the classroom and create more pressure and workload for national school teachers, who are obligated to teach khat in the Year Four Bahasa Melayu subject, ” she said, adding that she opposed the teaching of khat since the news about it broke.

“I understand that khat is part of Bahasa Melayu heritage and the ministry can introduce it into the syllabus later on. But it should focus on solving more pressing matters first instead of introducing khat, ” said Chee, who is a housewife.

Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie) chairman Mak Chee Kin called this apparent U-turn a “double standard policy”.

“Parents will definitely shy away from national schools.

“More people will send their children to international schools where government interventions are at a minimum, ” he said.

“Not only is it double standard, but it is also more confusing now, ” he said, adding that this raises the question if vernacular school teachers still need to attend training for khat calligraphy.

In response to the Cabinet’s decision to make the introduction of khat calligraphy optional, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said: “It

will not please everyone, including those from the non-Malay community.”

“However, the Cabinet’s decision that it is not compulsory but optional and not to be tested in exams, would hopefully allow Malaysians to move forward, ” said Lim in a statement yesterday.

“The Education Minister had announced the Cabinet’s decision that the introduction of the Jawi or khat in the Year Four Bahasa Melayu textbooks would not be tested in exams and be made optional, ” he said.

National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general Harry Tan said that teachers now have the autonomy to decide how they want to introduce khat calligraphy to their Year Four pupils.

He reiterated the fact that the art form will remain a part of the Bahasa Melayu syllabus.

“Teachers have the autonomy to decide how to teach their pupils khat, ” he said, adding that more artistic pupils can be taught more complex words or phrases.

Weak pupils, on the other hand, can just be shown the characters, he said.

Tan also said teachers, whether in vernacular or national schools, are always ready to do their jobs.

“Since Seni Khat is just taught for introductory purpose, teachers do not need to be skilled, ” he added.- Star