Single School System for Malaysia!

The NST today (30.10.09) had a story on ’More talks on single-school system’. It reported the Deputy Prime Minister as saying this is a ’big matter’ that needed more discussion and also suggesting that, “But on the government’s side, we have to consider all aspects of the implementation of such an idea.” 

It was also reported that Muhyiddin wants input from all quarters evaluated before a single-school system could be considered to replace the current system, which allows the existence of vernacular, missionary and Islamic religious schools.
He reminded everyone that “The existing system is a heritage from our country’s history. It is okay to discuss the changing of the school system, but the government will not do anything without consulting the respective communities. Every opinion in this matter, be it from the Chinese, Malay, Indian or other communities, is important to us.”

Interestingly, yesterday (29.10.09) at a forum in conjunction with our National Language Month organized by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government where the panelists were Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr. Nik Safiah Karim, Professor Dr. Teo Kok Seong and myself which was moderated by Datuk Johan Jaafar this issue of a single school system for Malaysians was raised. I think it is fine to, once again, visit this important topic. After some discussion it was agreed that the vernacular, missionary and Ismalic religious schools are going to be there for sure. It was agreed that one had to take this situation as a reality and work within the system to find the best solutions to achieve national unity.

One point which has to be noted is that, this discussion on school system goes back to as far as 1956. Our founding fathers did deliberate long on this issue and finally seem to have decided that there was going to be more than one system of education, at least at the primary level. They suggested that, ” We have also, as required by our terms of reference, taken as a guiding principle the intention to make Malay the national language of the country whilst preserving and sustaining the growth of the languages and cultures of non-Malay peoples living in the country Article 10 (Page 2). They also decided that “…more than one medium of instruction may be used. There will be sufficient flexibility in the curriculum to allow schools or parts of schools to give special attention to particular Malayan languages and cultures. Grants-in-aid will be given at uniform rates to all National-Type Secondary schools (Article 13c (Page 3).

In this respect, it is important to note that the Deputy Prime Minister, based on the provisions provided for in the Razak Report (1956) has suggested that “The existing system is a heritage from our country’s history”.

We have to take into account a number of aspects when we are addressing this very important issue. One important issue, of course, is to state objectively whether it is justified to say that the very existence of these vernacular, missionary and Islamic religious schools works against achieving national unity. One can’t help but to ask whether there had been empirical studies undertaken to investigate this important issue. For that matter, how successful have the national schools been, where children of all races go to, in fostering national unity has not been studied adequately. More importantly, the obstacles in the system also warrant scrutiny.

It is quite obvious when someone suggests that we come up with a single school system with the aim of providing opportunities to our children of different races, religions and backgrounds to interact, his or her intention is noble. He or she believes that providing the children with the opportunities will enable them to interact. Ideally it should work. Once again, whether this happens as one would like to see needs to be studied. Even when the children of different races are in a single school, for administrative reasons if the children are streamed into different groups based on single race or end up being in groups which are predominately of a single race, this would not help make things better. This is one of the reasons often cited why our national schools have not become attractive enough to the non-Malay community.

When we talk about having a single school system, we often talk about the vernacular, missionary and Islamic religious schools. The argument is that they work against national unity. While this is being debated, I would like to bring another issue to this argument which makes this issue even more complicated and challenging. In the past, Malaysians, irrespective of their racial background, were not allowed to send their children to international schools. The elite have been fighting to change this policy for a long time. Now, whoever could effort, may send his or her children to international schools where the medium of instruction is English. In our discussion to have a single system of schools, what is our take on the issue of Malaysians sending their children to international schools?

In my opinion, when we address this important issue once again, as has been suggested by the Deputy Prime Minister, let us listen to the views of every concerned Malaysian. Let us be very objective about things.

When we talk about a single school system, please take serious note of the existing situation, including whatever new ‘fittings’ we have included into the make-up which also maybe working against our national unity, including allowing our Malaysian children to attend international schools. There are, I believe, other ‘fittings’ in our system which may also be working against national unity. Please do not single out the vernacular, missionary and Islamic Religious schools as the culprit when we talk about problems in achieving national unity.

One way out, maybe, is that we have to have a comprehensive review of our education system, and not quick-fixes, to solve this any many other important issues. Our education system went through a comprehensive scrutiny in 1979, that was 30 years ago, when our former prime minister Tun Mahathir was the Minister of Education. It is important that we have a comprehensive review of the education system now and address all issues including having a single school system. Whatever happens, as has been suggested by the Deputy Prime Minister, “the government will not do anything without consulting the respective communities. Every opinion in this matter, be it from the Chinese, Malay, Indian or other communities, is important to us”. Let us hope we will be successful in coming up with what is best for the future of our beloved country, “1Malaysia”.