Saudi teachers, Malaysians can learn from one another

A few days ago, Malaysians must have been stunned to learn about an exchange programme between the Malaysian and Saudi Arabian education ministries, whereby Saudi Arabian teachers would gain teaching experience in Malaysia.

The reasons for their fears are two-fold.

First, Saudi Arabia is not renowned for its standard and quality of education. To gain teaching experience, the Saudi teachers would have to receive hands-on teaching skills and network with others in the workplace, school or faculty, and acquire credibility.

We are told that the teachers in the exchange programme are specialists in English, mathematics and science, and presumably are the cream of the crop.

On the other hand, one wonders if our students will be able to understand the Saudi teachers. Pupils from national schools are not comfortable speaking English. Will there be a communication problem?

Second, for the past 40 years, Saudi’s petro dollars were used to finance madrasahs and mosques around the world, including in Malaysia, southern Philippines and Indonesia. The money was almost always accompanied by ulamas who preached the extremist and intolerant form of sunni Islam – Wahhabism.

Malaysians fear that these teachers will spread Wahhabism, under the guise of teaching our students English, maths and science. The damage that these teachers could do to the country far outweighs the benefits of 300 scholarships. Is Malaysia so desperate for Saudi money?

The agreement reached between Education Minister Maszlee Malik and his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Hamad Mohammed Al Shaikh, was forged in an effort to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. At the same time, 300 scholarships were awarded to Malaysian undergraduates to read courses in science and technology.

At one time, former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now the home minister, made the outrageous claim that Malaysia had the best education system in the world. Despite that claim, we struggle to make the learning of English acceptable to the mainly Malay student population, because they have been brought up to consider it unpatriotic to speak any language besides Malay.

Let us hope that when Malay students see that the Saudi teachers are fluent in English, they too will be encouraged to converse in English.

The Saudis can learn from our community and export some of the positive aspects of our culture to their homeland. The sexes are not segregated. People of different faiths and cultures mingle with one another.

In Malaysia, women can drive and go out on their own, without being accompanied by a male relative. Women can go shopping without escorts. Women need not ask for permission to travel overseas. Women have a right to an education. Women can do most jobs. How many of the Saudi teachers will be female?

The Malays are going through a phase of Arabisation and, at times, ignore their own rich Malay cultural heritage of dress, language, architecture and food. For instance, the niqab is not suitable for the tropical climate as it is best suited to the desert environment with its intense heat and sand storms. Both the Saudis and Malaysians should realise that dress is dependent on the climate and is not a male prerogative.

Similarly, houses in the desert have small windows to keep out the desert heat and fine sand, whereas tropical homes have awnings for shade, double roofs for ventilation, and houses on stilts deter insects and keep people safe, when flooding occurs.

Saudi Arabia would grind to a halt without its foreign labour – nurses, salesgirls, cleaners, construction workers, maids, and those carrying out aircraft and heavy machinery maintenance. The Saudi teachers will note the presence of foreign workers in Malaysia, but fewer than in Saudi Arabia, where they import workers from the Indian subcontinent and the Philippines. However, in Malaysia, many locals still play an important role in a professional capacity as doctors and engineers, in the retail trade, in agriculture and in fishing.

Maszlee’s recent announcement about the Saudi teachers has outraged most Malaysians, but he is solely responsible for this. His policy on khat, and his view that Sarawak is short of religious teachers do not inspire us. Furthermore, none of his other policies fills us with confidence about his ability as education minister.

Maszlee could have assuaged our fears about the Saudi teachers, but he did not. Perhaps, he needs a new media, or public relations team, to bolster his image. - FMT