Several parents involved in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and Parent Support Group (KSIB) of an all-girls school in Johor have claimed discrepancies in the explanation provided by the Education Ministry and the school’s principal over an overnight SPM workshop held on Jan 19 and 20.
This was over allegations of discrimination that surfaced on Monday claiming that the workshop, held at a hotel in Johor Bahru, had intentionally excluded non-Muslim students from SMK Infant Jesus Convent Johor Bahru.
The Education Ministry claimed yesterday that the workshop was actually split into two separate sessions to avoid disturbing the school's SPM candidates who were celebrating the Chinese New Year, adding that the workshops were meant for all races.
However, the parents in a statement today, said the ministry's explanation was inconsistent with an explanation from the school's principal.
Screenshots of WhatsApp messages purportedly from the principal that were shared on social media on Monday, had her defending the workshop as being necessary to avoid 40 Malay students from failing their SPM examinations.
The principal's purported explanation to the parents also made no mention of a second workshop for non-Malay students being held, or that the workshop would be split into two - as claimed by the Education Ministry.
"We find the Education Ministry’s statement released yesterday - after the workshop issue went viral - inconsistent with what had been told to us by the principal when queried about it earlier,” said the school's PTA and KSIB in a statement.
“Both phase one and phase two of these workshops were never discussed at PTA meetings, nor was approval sought for the use of funds for them.
“We consider this a serious breach of trust. It has become apparent that not all members of the PTA were privy to this information and these measures," they added.
Separately, a source privy to the matter also highlighted an inconsistency in the ministry's claim that there would be a second workshop on Jan 26 and 27 for those who missed the first session.
The source confirmed that prior to the brouhaha, the school had indeed scheduled an SPM workshop to be held on its premises on Jan 26, and was open to all candidates.
However, after the uproar over the Muslim-only workshop at the hotel, the source said the school suddenly extended the Jan 26 to Jan 27 for the non-Malay students "as an afterthought".
“This was only communicated to the PTA WhatsApp group yesterday,” the source added.
Unanswered questions
The Education Ministry said yesterday that the second workshop would be held at the same hotel as the first one.
Meanwhile, the source also revealed that the first workshop was held after 19 Malay students had failed their SPM History subject, for which a pass is required in order to get an SPM certificate.
Questions about whether non-Malay students had also failed any compulsory pass subjects remain unanswered, said the source.
The issue first came to light on Twitter on Monday, and it was alleged that a workshop was held just for Muslim students under the guise of it only covering Islamic Studies.
However, it was alleged that parents only discovered later that other SPM subjects, such as Chemistry and Additional Mathematics, were also covered in the workshop, prompting pushback from parents.
The ministry in its statement yesterday did not mention the ethnicity or religion of the students who took part in the workshop on Jan 19 and 20, nor did they confirm or deny that this batch of students was all Muslims.
Tonight's statement from the PTA and KSIB came after a meeting with the school’s representatives, the Johor State Education Department and Johor District Education Office (DEO) on the matter this morning.
Communication failure?
The source, who attended the meeting, told Malaysiakini that a DEO officer had first met with the disgruntled parents to hear their woes.
The officer later held a roundtable session to bring them together to further discuss the matter.
“The DEO officer wanted to find out the issues that the parents had regarding the workshop.
“There were many sides to the story, however, the main reason was not that the parents wanted to make it a racial issue, but that the existence of the workshops was not communicated to all students equally.
“Had it been open to everyone equally, I think it would not have been an issue,” said the source.
The conclusion, said the source, was that the school promised to be more transparent in future planning and collaboration.
This conclusion was reiterated to the parents, PTA and KSIB statement.
Meanwhile, Johor education executive councillor (exco) Norlizah Noh maintained that there was no discrimination against non-Muslims in the school.
In a statement today, she said that she had personally met with the Johor Education Department, PPD, PTA members, the school’s principal as well as its teachers earlier today over the workshop to hear their explanation.
“Through the clarification provided by the school, in line with the statement issued by the Education Ministry, the programme run by the school does not discriminate against the religion and ethnicity of students.
“Therefore, I call on all parties to not express their own opinions on social media because this can create a disharmonious environment, especially in the state of Johor,” she said.
The case had caught the attention of Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar last night, who called for action to be taken if the segregation allegations were true.
The monarch said action should also be taken if the allegations were false.
The SMK Infant Jesus Convent Johor Bahru parents, PTA and KSIB expressed gratitude to Sultan Ibrahim for his support of inclusivity and justice. - Mkini
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