One educatiom system
Don’t choose to be blind over abolishing vernacular schools.
Navin Karan
Having a one education system is a good platform to cultivate real multiracialism for kids from the beginning and not during the teenage years (13) where commonly they prefer to mix among their own community. It is worse when they have to enrol into remove class (Peralihan – a discrimination for kids who couldn’t master Bahasa Malaysia after 6 years).
PR, don’t be opportunists by slamming the govt as being racist or that this is a kind of punishment to the voters, please. We Malaysians have been agreeable with PR for most of their govt agendas but don’t assume we are always ‘YES BOSS’. Actually, PR should encourage us and also work together with the govt, especially on how to make an effective “Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK)” since the BN govt seems to be always dry on brilliant ideas.
And MIC, to win the Indians’ heart doesn’t mean you have to be Vijayakanth to going against it to fight for Tamil schools. Right now MIC says they are fighting for Indian rights but in actual fact they are drama kings!! You, MIC/ MCA/Gerakan/PPP/IPF/AMMA/TAM/KIMMA should propose to instate vernacular language in SK syllabus and to have it made a compulsory subject under the mother tongue category. Non-Indian and non-Chinese students should be given a choice to choose a preferred language. No excuse should be tolerated when the student or parents refuse or make the process difficult.
Ultimately, the govt is to ensure Bahasa Malaysia dikuasai oleh semua kaum as well as proficiently mastering English since the world made this language a good communication platform and it is the govt’s duty to protect mother tongue languages.
Most parents or scholars prefer the upcoming generation to master certain languages according to demand. This is not a wrong perception but ‘taraf apa’ to know your own mother tongue. The mindset should be tuned; learning a language isn’t to help the economy but you risk losing one’s identity. They will fail to know the history of their own ancestors, the culture, the morale, the scriptures about god; all these are mostly available in their own mother tongue language. Yes, no doubt all these are available in English but how original can it be? Can you get 100% chicken curry taste in vegetarian chicken curry?
Primary school is the first ‘parent’ for the children and if under the same roof is shared by the same ethnicity, the bonding with just one particular ethnic group would become too strong. Thereafter in secondary school, half of the teenagers find difficulty in breaking the wall to mix around. The gap worsens when insensitive words are used ‘Cina apa lagi mau’, ‘pariah’, ‘belacan’ (examples only, don’t attack me pls!). Now look at 2 scenarios: when kids use such wrong words, the parents’/teachers’ involvement is a must to correct the KIDS. We may successfully correct them with a probability of 9/10; in the same scenario, if a secondary school student uses offensive words, when the parents/teachers try to correct them, they will come up with a lot of excuses (‘dia mula dulu cikgu’, ‘dia yang kutuk kaum kerabat kita abah’, ‘depa satu geng challenge kita orang’), the probability to change is 5/10. The best way to educate the pupil about unity starts in primary schools, at a tender age without knowing their background.
I am a father of two, who is torn between wanting his children to learn their heritage but wary that sending them to a Tamil school will not give them a smooth journey from child to teenage years. I want to look forward to seeing them celebrate Raya by bersalam-salaman for maaf, zahir & batin, CNY by performing the lion dance, Deepavali with lighting the lamp around the SK schools. I wish SK will be ready with vernacular as compulsory and protected. The mindset of children to accept 1Malaysia is more open at a tender age as compared to the teenage period.
So let’s work for it, my fellow politicians.
