Vernacular schools and national integration

Can we see better national integration if Tamil and Chinese medium primary schools are abolished? The education minister is of the view that national primary schools have to be empowered and used as the anchor for national integration, by making the national schools as the school of choice for all Malaysians.

Our success model was built upon a multicultural and multilingual kaleidoscope. Fifty years of independence has rated Malaysia a nation which still can boast to thrive in multi racial environment without bomb blasts and threat to human insecurity. On the same note, we also recognize the deteriorating race relations, undercurrents of racial and religious intolerance, discrimination and feelings of marginalisation among the races and also within the races. Thanks to the socio-economic development and the rapid growth that we went through that has given enough food to the stomach that now we are looking at food for thought.

National integration is a thorny issue. As much as we want it, we just do not seem to get it. The children of our nation are growing to become more divisive racially and religiously. Our harmonious living is becoming mere advertisement tools.

To address the issue, often we choose education. The most simplistic solution, so it seems is start a process from young. To get all the children enrolled in a single medium school and systematically dismantle Tamil, Chinese and religious primary schools.

Presently more than ninety per cent or about 650,000 Chinese children attend Chinese medium schools and 50 per cent or about 100,000 Tamil children attend Tamil schools. In national schools there are about 110,000 Tamil children, 50,000 Chinese children and about 2,200,000 Malay children. It was quoted that presently there are about 100,000 non-Chinese children, majority of which are Malays who are enrolled in the Chinese schools.

Need to start somewhere

Now we are looking at solving the national integration problem by shifting about 550,000 Chinese children from Chinese primary schools and about 100,000 Tamil children from Tamil schools to national schools. Will just a shift of 650,000 young children forming less than three per cent of our 24 million population solve the issue of national integration?

We need to start somewhere, but choosing the primary school system as the root to social integration can be misleading and back firing.

The existence of vernacular system of education at the least may be one and be as well an insignificant one that is responsible for deterioration of national integration. The centre factors are the very existence of our sociopolitical living that is driving a wedge in our daily experiences. Race and religion-based political parties, ethno-centred development policies, domination of a single race in civil administration and decision making process, discrimination on the name of race and religion, religious intolerance and feelings of marginalisation and insecurity are some of the major factors that we try not to discuss but accept their existence as given. Therefore the prescription that national integration can be achieved by a single medium national primary school system will be futile. Contrarily it will worsen national integration.

Drawing some inference from the past is useful. The national school going Tamil children were more than 50 per cent in the last three decades. Even today we see them as pockets of isolated groups in secondary schools and elsewhere. There is no grouping among Tamils as such which can hold itself to claim to feel nationally integrated. Rather they carry a sore thump of neglect and deprivation.
Sometimes, we feel happier rejoicing the lives of yester years. In the seventies, even though I was Tamil school educated, during my secondary school days, I visited more Malay friends in their kampungs to feast on the rambutan tress than my children now. Many of us would readily agree that we enjoyed better feelings of togetherness then.

Now, parents in droves are looking for vernacular education. In fact the current phenomena is one of a knee-jerk reaction that many and more want their mother tongue education at primary level for reasons of identity and the fear of losing one. This feeling is getting stronger with the middle class Indians who once shunned the Tamil medium in the past.

Strong arguments

The reasons are simple. Immense sense of insecurity overwhelms our everyday life, one after the other. Either is a fight for a Hindu burial or political remarks by party politicians or the mere denial of access in education, jobs, business and promotions.

The worsening race relations require remedies. The choice cannot lie with just looking at primary education. It is also important to look at the pedagogical benefits of mother tongue education. The Unesco education position paper 2003 authoritatively states that learners learn best in their mother tongue as a prelude to and complement of bilingual education approaches. Researches and other experiences are looking at education as wholesome development of a child s potential. Strong arguments are favouring nurturing the child in a culturally secured environment.

Messing up the primary education in the name of national integration is not expected to bring meaningful benefits. It will only set-off counter arguments. There is insufficient evidence to prove that our primary school system is squarely responsible for the deteriorating national integration. We have lived with tremendous respect for each other. Our diverse value system survived trying moments and as we are beginning to become matured. Our policies and acceptance of our differences must become our strengths and outweigh divisive weaknesses.

Mother tongue language based primary education is fast gaining acceptance as a tool for securing socio- cultural security of in a multicultural environment. When a child losses its language and culture, how can it have the self-construct and dignity to respect language and culture of others?

Perhaps, the following quote from UNDP s Human Development Report 2004 would sum the point. Struggles over identity can also lead to regressive and xenophobic policies that retard human development. They can encourage a retreat to conservatism and a rejection of change, closing off the infusion of ideas and of people who bring cosmopolitan values and the knowledge and skills that advance development. Cultural diversity is here to stay and to grow. States need to find ways of forging national unity amid this diversity.