Parents to assemble for better education future
Lawrence YongPublished: Jan 2, 2014 2:46 PM | Updated: Jan 2, 2014 2:59 PM
For the sake of the country's future, concerned parents groups will assemble on Saturday to send a message to the government to stop mixing politics and education.
The assembly wants the teaching of Maths and Science in English to be reinstated and for a professional to helm the Education Ministry.
For the sake of the country's future, concerned parents groups will assemble on Saturday to send a message to the government to stop mixing politics and education.
A coalition led by Association of Parents and Individuals Towards Revising the Education System (Aspire) said that they hope to draw hundreds out to make a point.
Among its demands are the reinstatement of the teaching of Maths and Science in English (PPSMI) and for a professional, and not a politician, to helm the Education Ministry.
Aspire's leader Shamsudin Hamid (left) said that parents were making a stand as they had exhausted all avenues and were tired of being stonewalled by the government.
They have written 12,000 letters, submitted memorandums to the prime minister, attended numerous town hall meetings, and even went on TV to air their views. But the government has ignored them, he said.
"Our demand for the PPSMI to be reinstated, for example, is only mentioned as one sentence in the Education Blueprint. How can you say that you are listening to us?" Shamsudin told Malaysiakini.
"Education has been politicised by both sides and parents are caught in the middle," he added.
Besides Aspire, other parents groups taking part in Saturday's rally are the Concerned Parents of Selangor (CPS), Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (Page), Malacca Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie).
"We are not going there to demonstrate. It will be a peaceful gathering of parents, concerned citizens and their children with the purpose of telling the powers-that-be that our children's future in jeopardy, if current education mess is not addressed," Shamsudin said.
He added that they have applied to gather under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 two weeks ago and the police have not objected.
'Double-standard education system'
As a father of four schooling children from Standard 3 to Form 1, Shamsudin said that he is sick of Malaysia having a double-standard education system, even for Malays.
He cited that while the government-backed Mara Junior Science College promoted Cambridge IGCSE, Malays in public schools were taught Maths and Science in Bahasa Melayu.
"The government is listening to Malay nationalists because these people hold their votes," Shamsudin said. "Parents are sick of this divisive, discriminatory attempt to spin education into a racial thing."
He also questioned why the government seemingly cared so much for Dong Zhong's views on Chinese education but not the parents.
During the launch of the much panned 12-year Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013-2025), Muhyiddin made only one notable vow. He said that he would defend Chinese and Tamil schools to use mother tongue as a medium of instruction.
The teaching of PPSMI was scraped by Muhyiddin in 2012, nearly a decade after its introduction by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"It is absurd for Malay language people to say that Malay is a language to gain knowledge. It is impossible as daily there are dozens of academic papers done in English, how can Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka translate them all?" Samshudin said.
Muhyiddin was further flayed recently after Malaysian students tested poorly in the International Student Assessment (Pisa) results for 2012.
The parents groups will gather at 10 am on Jan 4 at Taman Jaya, Petaling Jaya (by the lake opposite AMcorp Mall). For more details, go to the Aspire Facebook page.
A coalition led by Association of Parents and Individuals Towards Revising the Education System (Aspire) said that they hope to draw hundreds out to make a point.
Among its demands are the reinstatement of the teaching of Maths and Science in English (PPSMI) and for a professional, and not a politician, to helm the Education Ministry.
Aspire's leader Shamsudin Hamid (left) said that parents were making a stand as they had exhausted all avenues and were tired of being stonewalled by the government.They have written 12,000 letters, submitted memorandums to the prime minister, attended numerous town hall meetings, and even went on TV to air their views. But the government has ignored them, he said.
"Our demand for the PPSMI to be reinstated, for example, is only mentioned as one sentence in the Education Blueprint. How can you say that you are listening to us?" Shamsudin told Malaysiakini.
"Education has been politicised by both sides and parents are caught in the middle," he added.
Besides Aspire, other parents groups taking part in Saturday's rally are the Concerned Parents of Selangor (CPS), Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (Page), Malacca Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie).
"We are not going there to demonstrate. It will be a peaceful gathering of parents, concerned citizens and their children with the purpose of telling the powers-that-be that our children's future in jeopardy, if current education mess is not addressed," Shamsudin said.
He added that they have applied to gather under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 two weeks ago and the police have not objected.
'Double-standard education system'
As a father of four schooling children from Standard 3 to Form 1, Shamsudin said that he is sick of Malaysia having a double-standard education system, even for Malays.
He cited that while the government-backed Mara Junior Science College promoted Cambridge IGCSE, Malays in public schools were taught Maths and Science in Bahasa Melayu.
"The government is listening to Malay nationalists because these people hold their votes," Shamsudin said. "Parents are sick of this divisive, discriminatory attempt to spin education into a racial thing."
He also questioned why the government seemingly cared so much for Dong Zhong's views on Chinese education but not the parents.
During the launch of the much panned 12-year Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013-2025), Muhyiddin made only one notable vow. He said that he would defend Chinese and Tamil schools to use mother tongue as a medium of instruction.The teaching of PPSMI was scraped by Muhyiddin in 2012, nearly a decade after its introduction by former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"It is absurd for Malay language people to say that Malay is a language to gain knowledge. It is impossible as daily there are dozens of academic papers done in English, how can Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka translate them all?" Samshudin said.
Muhyiddin was further flayed recently after Malaysian students tested poorly in the International Student Assessment (Pisa) results for 2012.
The parents groups will gather at 10 am on Jan 4 at Taman Jaya, Petaling Jaya (by the lake opposite AMcorp Mall). For more details, go to the Aspire Facebook page.
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