When malaysiakini published a letter from a reader in November stating that segregation was being practised in primary schools, nobody made a comment.

I have a four year-old boy. On asking around some teachers and parents, I found out that racial segregation has been going on for quite some time. Unfortunately, this issue was kept hidden from the public. The teachers were afraid of voicing their concern as this could cost them a promotion. NUTP did not speak up for reasons of its own.

The parents adjusted according to their economic situation. Those who could afford it transferred their children to private schools, others transferred their children to vernacular schools while the rest simply kept mum for fear that their children might be ostracised by the school authorities if they spoke.

Hence, I congratulate those parents from Port Klang for bringing the issue out into the open.

What the authorities need to do now is tackle this issue in a proper and open manner. If segregation starts at the primary school level, then we can forget about room sharing and what not in the universities.

In our schools, segregation should be based on merit as was practised in 1960s and 1970s (my school years) and nothing else.

In most housing estates today, there is a primary school that caters to the local residents. I stay in Selayang and was surprised to find that the school in Selayang practises racial segragation. In Selayang there are all three races who share a lot of similarities.

We live in terrace houses, are average income earners with quite similar lifestyles and habits. So why this racial segregation? Probably the teachers would like to have racial disunity in the future.

The government needs to identify all the teachers and district education officers involved and I feel they should be sacked outright rather than be given disciplinary action. Moreover, the government should be transparent in all their actions regarding this issue so as to get back the confidence of the people.

Hopefully, by the time my son is ready to go to school, there wouldn't be any sort of racial segregation.