Improve education system so parents won't send kids to int'l schools - MP

The government needs to improve the national education system to convince parents to send their children to national schools instead of international schools, said Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

He said the rising trend for middle-class parents to send their children to international schools would only cause the education system in Malaysia to become more and more divided, especially along racial lines.

“During my time, the government did not allow most Malaysians to go to international schools. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think that’s a good policy because if you go to private school, you still ... go through the national education system.

“Today, as long as you have some money, it’s an aspirational thing. I don’t blame parents for sending their kids there (to international school)… but it breaks up the (education) system.

“Then the national schools become more and more mono-ethnic and dominated by one race,” Nik Nazmi said.

The PKR vice-president was speaking at a panel forum titled ‘Malaysia After 59 Years: Separate and Unequal Education’ held at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall today.

Nik Nazmi said he does not mean international schools should be shut down, but he is merely pointing out some of the issues plaguing the education system.

“I think the government has no choice but to make national schools work and to convince parents to get kids back to national schools.

“It has worked in the past before, and it can happen again with the right policy,” he said.

Mono-ethnic

Recalling his youth growing up in Petaling Jaya, Nik Nazmi said he had very diverse friends when he attended a national school in the area at the time.

However, he said his old school, the La Salle school in Petaling Jaya, now consists of 95 percent Malay students.

“A mission school in Petaling Jaya is now 95 percent Malay. This is a major problem we face where we are more divided.

“Even the teacher population is becoming more and more mono-ethnic. It all adds up, this problem becomes worse and worse, and you are confined to your own circle,” he said.

At the same time, Nik Nazmi said he does not believe vernacular schools in the country will ever be shut down, despite it becoming a hot political topic every once in a while.

This is because he does not think there is any politician who would dare to do so, as a majority of Chinese parents and even some Malay parents send their children to Chinese vernacular schools.

Former school student Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam, who was also one of the speakers at the forum today, said many parents no longer trust the national syllabus.

Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam

Pointing to her own experience of being harassed by the school system after she exposed a teacher who allegedly made a rape joke in class last year, she said students feel unsafe and discriminated against in the current national education system.

“When this sort of discrimination happens in our education, these students won’t be able to really grow or flourish as students because they are continuously being harassed,” she said.

To create a safe environment for students in schools, Ain said there must be policies in place on how to address students facing harassment or provide a safe space for students to express their concerns and complaints.

Nik Nazmi said it is crucial that there is no discrimination in the education system as education is supposed to be the great equaliser.

“Ultimately, education is the great equaliser… If education is discriminatory in gender or race, then you are killing off the power of education to equalise society.

“How do we deal with this if the system we have forgets the ultimate role of education?” he questioned. - Mkini