A lesson to be learnt for our policymakers

 

Like every average income earner, I sent my daughter to a “sekolah rendah jenis kebangsaan” when she began schooling in the mid-2000s.

She had just completed two years of preschool where the medium of instruction was English, so she already had a fairly good grounding in the language by the time she started in “Darjah Satu”.

A few months into her first year at school, I had to pay a visit to speak to the teacher who taught the class English.

Given that she was the English teacher, the default mode, of course, was to converse with her in “Bahasa Inggeris”. However, her every response to my questions was in Malay.

She either did not have the inclination to set an example for her pupils by speaking in the language she taught or she did not have a good enough command of English to carry on a conversation with someone in that language.

Whatever the reason, it was quite horrifying.

I am therefore quite bemused by PKR leader Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad’s claim that international schools divided the country’s education system along racial lines and that national schools were in danger of becoming dominated by pupils of just one community.

For a start, our schools have become racially divided because we have a choice among national schools, Chinese schools and Tamil schools.

The racial divide is rooted in a policy that gives parents the option to enable their children to learn their mother tongue.

It has nothing to do with the presence of international schools. These schools are just another option for parents.

Nik Nazmi should also realise that a parent’s concern for his child’s future is not determined by the colour of his skin.

Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban or Kadazan, every parent wants the best for his child and he will do all he can to ensure that.

International schools are not the domain of just one or two racial groups. These schools are themselves a microcosm of the global community, and Malaysians of every race are represented.

But the point is that parents should not have to choose between quality education at an expensive institution and below par tuition at a public school.

The country’s education system has been an experiment for too long, the flip-flopping too frequent.

“Let’s teach math and science in English. Wait, no. Let’s go back to teaching it in Malay. Oh, no. We should do it in both languages.”

When the decision was made to teach those two subjects in English, was any effort made to ensure that the teachers were sufficiently conversant in the language? Not all, as reflected in a teacher’s remark to his pupils: “Tak apa lah. Kita sama-sama belajar Bahasa Inggeris”.

And who said that one could master English by learning math or science in the language?

The fact that most, if not all, of our ministers send their children to international schools here in Malaysia or abroad says it all.

Primary education is the foundation on which we build our children’s future, and the future of the nation. If we do not get it right, we will have failed them. - FMT

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