Language barrier to racial interaction, study reveals
By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — A significant number of secondary school dropouts with Chinese primary vernacular education have little, or zero, command of English or the national language, according to a study.
Observers say this has created a group of Chinese who only interact within their own ethnic community and points to increasing racial polarisation in multicultural Malaysia.
Education ministry studies have shown that nearly one in four Chinese students has failed to complete secondary school education and their dropout rate is virtually the same as that for Malays and other races.
In the latest survey of 159 schools nationwide last year, the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) found that one-third of students from those schools cannot understand either English or Bahasa Malaysia (BM) when they transfer to national secondary schools.
Another one-third was found to be able to understand only a little bit of English or BM, while the remaining one-third could comprehend fully.
NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng told The Malaysian Insider the survey was to find out the reasons for the high dropout rate among the Chinese students required to participate in the “remove class”, a year-long programme to ease their transfer from Chinese primary school to Malay-medium government school.
“Some students are not interested in their studies and play around,” she said, but deferred commenting on the significance of the survey.
Retired school principal Cheng Su Chean said there were Chinese students who were fluent in both BM and English and credited it to their wide exposure to different cultures outside school.
“Most of our Chinese children do not have this sort of environment. And nowadays, they do not mix around, not like our time,” said the 68-year-old, who was formerly headmistress of SRJK (C) Pudu in the capital city.
“Their interaction is limited. Ninety-eight per cent keep to their Chinese friends and so speak Chinese every day,” she added.
