Published: Monday May 13, 2013 MYT 8:31:00 PM

MIC chief Palanivel blasts call to abolish vernacular schools

KUALA LUMPUR: The call to abolish Chinese and Tamil schools is against the Federal Constitution, said MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel.

He said the schools have been in existence for a long time, even before independence, and it is very sad that people are still questioning their existence.

"We are strongly against it as this is one of the rights under Article 152 of the Federal Constitution, where no person shall be prohibited or prevented from using or from teaching or learning any other language," he told Bernama.

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) pro-chancellor Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Arshad recently called for the abolishment of vernacular schools in favour of a single stream school which uses Malay as medium.

"We have statistics to show that more than 1,000 UPSR Tamil school students have scored 7As and 6As, so it does not matter which type of school a child goes to, they all use the same national syllabus," he said.

Palanivel stressed that the contributions of students to society should be judged by the quality of students, their patriotism and what they give back as contribution to the society.

Echoing similar sentiments, the coordinator for the Action Plan for Future of Tamil Schools, Prof Dr N.S. Rajendran said this kind of stereotyping must stop for the sake of maintaining unity among the multi-racial population of Malaysia.

"Each and every one of us is responsible to promote unity and that includes the life outside of schools.

"It is just not fair to single out the vernacular schools claiming they work against unity when in reality there are at least five types of schools which exist and continue to grow in Malaysia," he said.

MCA Youth education bureau chief, Chong Sin Woon believes the unity problem will still exist, even if the vernacular schools are abolished.

He added that it would not be appropriate for certain people to blame disunity on vernacular schools, as the efforts to increase national unity lies with everyone including the government.

"It is proven vernacular schools have contributed to the education system by providing opportunities for children to learn various languages including their mother tongue, thus having ability to master them, and contribute efficiently towards nation building," he said. - Bernama.

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