Tuesday December 1, 2009

Make all schools take 1Malaysia approach

OF late, numerous calls have been made for a single-stream school system “Support single-stream move” (The Star, Nov 27).

These calls should be made with caution since at the primary level, vernacular Chinese and Tamil schools are guaranteed under the Constitution.

A single-stream school system does not have to mean upholding one stream and discarding the others. It should mean having all schools, national as well as vernacular primary schools, pursuing the goal of becoming more national and more 1Malaysia in character.

Much has been written about measures national schools (SKs) can take to attract more non-Malay parents to enrol their children in these schools.

Measures like including the teaching of POL (pupil’s own language) in the mainstream timetable, intensifying the learning of English and engaging a more racially balanced teaching/administrative staff are thought to be effective contributory factors. It is good to know that the Education Ministry and some school authorities are taking heed and acting on some of these matters.

Now, what about the SJK(C)/(T)? What roles do these schools have to take on to be more “national” or more “1 Malaysia”?

First, the teaching and learning of Bahasa Malaysia (BM) should take on a new and greater dimension.

We are 52 years into our Merdeka. It is time that the SJK(C)/(T) pupils begin to take the same BM papers in their UPSR (Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah) as their counterparts in the SK do.

At present, they are taking BM papers of a lower standard. At this point in our nation building, no excuse from schools or pupils can be accepted for wanting to learn BM at a lower level or at a slower pace.

BM is a fast-developing language. With the recently announced policy of “Upholding BM and Strengthening English,” SJK pupils will be found wanting and lacking in their command of BM when they enter mainstream secondary schools (SMKs), if the present system of separate UPSR BM papers continues.

When pupils need to master a higher level of BM, their attitude, values, motivation and approach towards the learning of the language will take on a new perspective.

The whole school will be put on a new, diligent and urgent priority to learning BM.

This, I believe, will lead to greater BM language proficiency, which in turn will contribute towards national unity and nation building.

The present practice of putting some SJK pupils through a year of remedial class (kelas peralihan), purportedly to help them improve their command of BM, in their first year in secondary schools can then be done away with. Besides, these classes have a humiliating impact and negative effect on the pupils involved.

Second, SJK schools should attempt to use more than the vernacular language in their communication with their pupils. Announcements can be bilingual: Mandarin/BM,

Mandarin/English or BM/English in the case of SJK(C), and Tamil/BM, Tamil/English or BM/English in SJK (T).

Certain co-curricular activities can be conducted in BM or English. Learning of BM and English should not be confined to formal classroom lessons. The headmaster can deliver his weekly assembly speech in two languages: Mandarin and BM or English; Tamil and BM or English.

These measures will help make our younger generation more proficient in two or more languages early in their life. The immediate gain, of course, is their greater confidence when moving on to national secondary schools.

Third, SJK schools should be encouraged to attract and enrol children of other races. Some of the vernacular schools are endowed with top-notch physical facilities, and are known to provide very conducive learning environments.

Other parents will be more ready to enrol their children in these schools if they can be convinced that these are national and 1Malaysia in their approach.

In this respect, the Education Ministry should reward SJKs that manage to increase the percentage of their non-vernacular-speaking pupils.

Give these schools bigger grants and provide them with more and better hardware as well as software facilities.

I would like to think that the single-stream school system need not mean upholding just one stream and discarding the others. It should mean having all our schools pursuing the single objective of becoming more national and more 1Malaysia in their character.

LIONG KAM CHONG,

Seremban.

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