‘Will Utusan ask why national schools shunned?’
Published: Oct 27, 2014 12:39 AM | Updated: Oct 27, 2014 1:53 AM
Utusan Malaysia has been urged to focus on the academic performance of Malay students in national schools instead of rubbishing vernacular schools.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy said that the editor should do so if he wants to understand why more parents are opting out of national schools for vernacular education.
Utusan Malaysia has been urged to focus on the academic performance of Malay students in national schools instead of rubbishing vernacular schools.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy said that the editor should do so if he wants to understand why more parents are opting out of national schools for vernacular education.
“Is there something seriously missing in national schools? Are national schools promoting national interest or engaging in sectarian practices?” he asked in a statement yesterday.
He was responding to an editorial in the Umno owned daily's Sunday edition Mingguan Malaysia that compared the language abilities of vernacular school graduates to Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia.
Assistant editor Ku Sean Ku Hussain argued that vernacular school graduates couldn't string sentences in the national language while the migrant workers can speak Bahasa Malaysia after three months here.
He cited Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation lecturer Teo Kok Seong, who conducted a survey of 14,000 national service trainees at 79 training camps in 2010.
Extremist agenda
Ramasamy said while the UKM study urges scrutiny of the matter, comparing vernacular school graduates to migrant workers is a move to “humiliate” the students, parents and schools.
He also wondered if that the unabated criticism against vernacular schools were part of a larger “extremist” agenda.
“The problem in Malaysia is not so much the educational system, but rather how the educational system has come to be manipulated and orchestrated to serve the interest of those organizations linked to Umno.
“Umno's continued exercise of dominant power depends on how much it can strengthen the existing institutions to serve its political interests,” he said.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy said that the editor should do so if he wants to understand why more parents are opting out of national schools for vernacular education.
“Is there something seriously missing in national schools? Are national schools promoting national interest or engaging in sectarian practices?” he asked in a statement yesterday.
He was responding to an editorial in the Umno owned daily's Sunday edition Mingguan Malaysia that compared the language abilities of vernacular school graduates to Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia.
Assistant editor Ku Sean Ku Hussain argued that vernacular school graduates couldn't string sentences in the national language while the migrant workers can speak Bahasa Malaysia after three months here.
He cited Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation lecturer Teo Kok Seong, who conducted a survey of 14,000 national service trainees at 79 training camps in 2010.
Extremist agenda
Ramasamy said while the UKM study urges scrutiny of the matter, comparing vernacular school graduates to migrant workers is a move to “humiliate” the students, parents and schools.
He also wondered if that the unabated criticism against vernacular schools were part of a larger “extremist” agenda.
“The problem in Malaysia is not so much the educational system, but rather how the educational system has come to be manipulated and orchestrated to serve the interest of those organizations linked to Umno.
“Umno's continued exercise of dominant power depends on how much it can strengthen the existing institutions to serve its political interests,” he said.
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