Is it any wonder vernacular, international schools are popular?

 

I’m glad both the education minister and his deputy reacted swiftly to news about a national school in Batu Pahat, Johor, segregating sporting activities according to the race of its students.

And yesterday, Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Iskandar, in expressing displeasure over the school ruling, said it must never happen again in the state.

FMT reported that SMK Dato’ Bentara Luar had issued a note to students saying the football and sepak takraw clubs were open to “Malay males only”, while the basketball club was for “Chinese males and females”; hockey was open only to students living in dorms, while only Malay girls could join the netball club.

Sports such as handball, bowling, petanque and badminton, however, were open to all.

Most Malaysians would agree with Tunku Ismail and education minister Radzi Jidin that sports is effective in promoting and strengthening unity and a sense of togetherness.

“Have we forgotten the greatness of the national football team that qualified for the 1972 and 1980 Olympics and the national hockey team that finished fourth in the 1975 World Cup? Didn’t we cheer when the national badminton team won the 1992 Thomas Cup?” Radzi asked on Saturday.

“Let our children play together regardless of their race,” Radzi said, adding that the school’s action was not in line with the education ministry’s implementation of sports programmes.

Deputy education minister Mah Hang Soon had earlier Saturday ordered the cancellation of the racial segregation rule, saying it contradicted the National Education Blueprint.

Race-based segregation of sports activities is a nonsensical decision however you see it. Sports is one of the few bright areas in the nation that creates a sense of togetherness, of Malaysianess. In most other areas of our national life, we are tragically divided by race and religion.

Will serious action be taken against the school administration for working against the interest of the nation? Based on previous cases, you know the answer as well as I do, especially now that the school head has apologised. This is likely to be another case of the famous NFA – no further action.

We don’t know if there are other schools with similar policies or rules that act against the welfare of the nation.

And the education authorities and government leaders wonder why vernacular schools and international schools are becoming increasingly popular.

The above policy in the Johor school is the latest in a list of problems in national schools that is driving away students, especially non-Malay students.

Too many people have noted that the character of national schools has changed to the extent that they are no longer national schools in practice. Some parents complain they are turning into Islamic schools.

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who once served as education minister, has commented on this several times. For instance, speaking at the annual dinner of his alma mater Sultan Abdul Hamid College on Dec 21, 2018, he said: “Someone changed the curriculum in school and now national schools have become religious schools.”

More recently, last Feb 11 to be exact, he said there was an overemphasis on Islam in schools at the expense of the kind of education needed in an increasingly demanding world.

“It’s almost as if every student is going to be an ulama,” he said. “They are increasing the number of hours, the number of periods, to teach Islam beyond what is needed by an ordinary Muslim. As a result, children don’t learn other knowledge, especially science and maths, which are very important now to make a living.”

Where does that leave the non-Malay, non-Muslim student?

On top of that, children are being taught history that is distorted or tweaked to make one race look superior while diminishing the contributions of other races.

Just last week, historian Ranjit Singh Malhi said textbooks being used in Form 1 to Form 5 were Malay and Islam-centric. In addition, they had not only omitted key facts relevant to nation-building but also included factual distortions and exaggerations.

He said because almost all the history textbook writers were Malay, students were learning world and Malaysian history from the perspective of one particular ethnic group.

“The glaring defects in the current history textbooks only confirm the bias of the writers. They do not provide an adequate, balanced and fair account of the emergence and growth of Malaysia’s plural society,” said the adjunct professor at Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation.

“Our young are not being taught the real and inclusive history of our nation but a consciously selected historical narrative skewed towards establishing Islamic and Malay dominance based upon the divisive concept of ‘ketuanan Melayu’.

“For example, unlike earlier textbooks, the current history textbooks downplay the important roles and contributions of the Malaysian Chinese and Indian communities in the economic and infrastructure development of the nation,” he charged.

He noted that the role of Indians in growing the rubber industry and the Chinese in developing the tin mining sector had been relegated to two to three sentences in the Form 3 history textbook.

In addition, he said, the textbooks failed to show the impact of Hindu-Buddhist civilisation on Malay culture, language, literature and even government.

Is it any wonder then that an increasing number of non-Malay parents, disillusioned with the education system, are sending their children to vernacular schools, or international schools if they can afford it?

Even Malay parents are sending their children to international, Chinese and Tamil schools. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.