It’s pretty common to see vernacular schools in Malaysia because the practice of multi-stream schools is actually pretty old. If you can recall Sejarah!
Anyway, there has always been a never-ending debate on whether or not to continue the system, on the basis that it causes racial and ethnic segregation. Nevertheless, the vernacular schools were still practised and proven to be successful.
However, recently, a statement has emerged and subsequently sparked the same debate about this matter.
According to NST, Prof Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seng, a Bahasa Melayu professor who is also a Principal Fellow of the Institute of Ethnic Studies in UKM, said that the reason behind why many youths of other ethnics are questioning the special rights of the Malays is because it stemmed from the segregated education system, aka multi-stream schools, since kindergarten.
Source: Yahoo News
He further added that this multi-streaming school system allows ethnic segregation from the young age of five. Plus, since they will most likely speak in their mother tongue if they were in vernacular schools, Prof Teo reckoned that it will be difficult for the students to mingle once they go to secondary schools.
“This (poor ethnic relations) must be addressed and it must head towards a single stream education system, as practised in neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. We have to dismantle the education system so that it becomes a single stream. Anywhere in the world, a single stream education system is used to unite the youths and create a nation with a single identity,” he said.
Source: Cegah Gelegar
On the other hand, he also said the saddest part is that even though our country has a multitude of education systems, there are still people who don’t have a decent command of Bahase Melayu even though it is the national language.
“This is not right. As a citizen who cannot even master one’s own national language, what meaning does your citizenship hold? This is a very serious national matter but it is not raised by politicians for several reasons,” he added.
Well-aware of his bold and risky statement, Prof Teo isn’t afraid of the backlash he could face on social media because according to him, he speaks from experience. Also, he said that he doesn’t care because when speaking of education, he only focuses on the nation’s development. Gutsy!
Obviously, as he had predicted, netizens had a lot to say about his bold statement. Here are some them;
One pointed out how statistics had shown that vernacular school students are proven to be more successful.
Source: Facebook
Another said that maybe it isn’t the education, maybe it is the law itself.
Source: Facebook
Meanwhile, others disagreed with the statement made by Prof Teo stating that we’re not good in BM and insisted that we are actually quite fluent in the language. Then, another user said that we needn’t master the language and that we only need to be fairly good at it. Which makes sense if you’re not using it on a professional level.
Source: Facebook
Do you agree or disagree with Prof Teo’s statement? Let us know in the comments below.
Also read: “Local Grads’ Command of English is Better Now,” Says Higher Education Minister
