I REFER to “Schools a source of disunity?” (Another Take, July 15) and the earlier three articles on Malay Dominance by the same gentleman. I cannot but totally agree with many of his assertions although there are as many which are debatable.
Interestingly, the title of the fourth article is a question. If I were asked to respond, my answer will definitely be in the affirmative. Agreed, there are many sources of national disunity and lack of integration, but surely in our local context, the country’s school system must be one of the most important.
National unity does not happen by chance, nor can it be achieved overnight. It is something you nurture among the people by instilling in them the spirit of respect, understanding, tolerance, caring and sharing. What better way to do this than to look at our schools.
It is at schools that the young who are impressionable and their minds fresh, are able to interact with one another without inhibitions regardless of their race, creed and colour. It is here that they have the opportunity to foster racial goodwill and inculcate a sense of oneness. These attributes gained while in schools will enable them to live in peace and harmony and stay united in the future. Thus, the Malay proverb “Melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya”.
One would realise that many Malaysians born before the 70’s, are more multiracial in thought and deed. Again, this is the result of many factors, but interaction in the same schools is definitely one of them.
Also, if one were to consider the US as an example, where its citizens originated from all parts of the world, until today it maintains English as the main language of instruction in virtually all schools, albeit more than 21% of its population speak a language other than English at home. That surely speaks volumes of the importance of schools and its medium of instructions in achieving unity, true even for an advanced country like America.
That said, it is time we work on ensuring all Malaysian children go to the same school and speak in the same language. Thus, there must only be a single school system, the national schools with Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction. However, it is important for these schools to offer and make mother tongue subjects compulsory to encourage parents to send their children there and preserve their constitutional rights of their community language.
These schools should also continue to incorporate extensively the current Dual Language Programme (DLP), where science subjects can also be taught in English. On top of that, where ever possible additional time should be allocated to learning of English and Mandarin, the latter which is fast becoming a world language.
All these must be embedded within the national education policy to pave the way for our children to remain united under any circumstances and able to confidently face global challenges in the future.
To be fair, there are concerns the current standard of national schools may be relatively lower than that of vernacular schools. If this is found to be true, then the obvious way forward is for the former to adopt the latter’s curriculum and emulate all its good practices. Surely in the spirit of togetherness, efforts can be made to share and exchange relevant teaching staff between these schools. This may seem simplistic, but these and any other practical solutions such as increasing the number of non-Malay teachers in national schools, must be put in place for the benefit of future generations.
On the fear that national schools are subjected to a Malay and Islamic-centric agenda, non-Muslim parents should not worry as long as the schools treat all students the same, do not separate them based on race or force them to become Muslims. Nonetheless, the authorities should always monitor these schools to ensure they stick to the Education Ministry SOPs so as to create a favourable learning environment, where students do not feel isolated or discriminated against. National schools must be treated as schools of all races.
Acknowledging that our nation is multiracial, multireligious and multicultural, I agree we must not only be proud of this diversity but should also take advantage of it if want to compete on the global scale. However, any initiative we embark towards this end should not jeopardise efforts to enrich our single school system.
Lastly, but most importantly, we need a strong political will to make certain this preferred school system works. Thus, I sincerely hope the powers that be should not wait any longer after wasting the last 61 years trying unsuccessfully to integrate, in its true sense, the various races in this country.
For those who continue to oppose the single school system, there is this Malay adage “hendak seribu daya, tak hendak seribu dalih”.
Zamri Mahmud
Baling