Apathy, ignorance, fear led to “shower room canteen”, say retired, senior teachers

Some care, some do not. Some are so young that they are afraid to offend others by their decisions.

Some are totally indifferent while some really cannot see what is right or wrong anymore.

This was the general consensus from senior and retired teachers whose opinions The Malaysian Insider sought over the incident at SK Seri Pristana in Sungai Buloh, where the non-Muslim pupils were forced to have their meals during recess at the school's shower room.

They were, however, united on one stand.

"The school should have dealt with this in a better way".

Retired teacher Ng Yoke Keng, 64, said during her time, teachers always told non-Muslim pupils not to display their food or eat in front of Muslim students.

“We explained to the non-Muslims pupils that it was plain rude to do so.”

Ng has no doubts that the intention of the school authorities in this case were good, to respect the Muslims who were fasting but added they should have chosen a more suitable place for the non-Muslims to have their meal during recess.

“Whichever way you look at this picture, it is wrong. There is no way the pupils should have been told to have their meals in the shower room,” she said.

She pointed out that in almost every school, there is a special room for teachers which could have been utilised for the non-Muslims to have their meals.

Ng, who taught in a Chinese school, said the quality of teachers nowadays was indeed different.

Stopping short of saying that most teachers these days are “too young” and too conscious of retaliation if they did not respect the pupils, Ng, a mother of two, however, added: “One bad apple should not ruin the entire basket.”

University lecturer and former principal Balasubramaniam Kuppusamy, 74, said what happened in SK Seri Pristana was an isolated incident.

“There is still no clear picture of what really transpired, the shower room may have seemed suitable as there were sinks there for the pupils to use.”

He also pointed out that if it was true that the school’s parent teachers association had approved using the shower room, the onus was on the principal to inform all the other parents.

"That way, he could have obtained feedback, which would have helped him decide whether to go ahead with that option," said Balasubramaniam, the former principal of St Michael's Institution Ipoh.

That said, Balasubramiam also felt that educators seemed to be lacking in cultural relativism in this day and age.

Stressing on cultural relativism, the former principal said that if everyone could understand the values, norms and sensitivities of other races, situations like these could be avoided.

"The trend among educators now is that they are lacking in this skill. They have learnt it, but have not internalised it.”

He used the Rukun Negara printed at the back of school exercise books as an example, saying that educators may know the principles by heart, but not the objectives, and as such, are failing to give it its due recognition and importance.

"Among the objectives are to foster greater unity among the people and to have a liberal approach to our country's rich and diverse cultural traditions," he said.

Asked whether educators during his time possessed these skills, Balasubramaniam said: “It was the same situation, some cared, others were not interested".

Najib Ahmad, who teaches at a school in Sungai Besi was of the opinion that only a teacher would understand why such decisions were made.

“There could be various reasons. For example, in this case, the canteen was closed. And children being children, they would make a mess when eating, so they would need to find an area where sinks are nearby.

“I wouldn’t say what the school did was wrong, but I have to admit maybe that was not the appropriate place,” he said, referring to the shower room being used as the makeshift canteen.

When asked if teachers nowadays lack in judgmental skills when trying to be culturally sensitive, he said: “There are always two sides to every coin. I don’t think their judgmental skills have deteriorated, but teachers will just have to do what they feel is most suitable considering the surrounding circumstances.”

A college lecturer who only wanted to be identified as Azahar felt the issue has been blown out of proportion and made worse by a principal who was not ready to face the barrage of publicity.

Although Azahar agreed it was wrong for the headmaster to make the pupils eat in the shower room, he pointed out that it only involved a handful of them.

"It used to happen even when I was in school, the canteen was closed but the headmaster put up a canopy with tables and chairs and the pupils ate there," he said.

Earlier yesterday, Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan said the incident at the school was "not about religion or race", adding that as far as he was concerned, the issue was resolved.

The deputy minister added that the headmaster had good intentions but chose a poor location.

"He has apologised. I too apologise. It won't happen again," Kamalanathan said after visiting the school.

However, politicians, non-governmental organisations and even parents expressed outrage saying the matter cannot be put to rest simply with a visit to the school and an apology.