In an April announcement which I had supported wholeheartedly by the Ministry of Education (MoE) last year, Mandarin and Tamil were to be taught in national schools commencing the current academic year. It is everyone's believe that if implemented successfully, it may arrest the steep decline in enrolment from non-Malays to the national schools. It is a well-known statistic that 90% of non-Malays are enrolled in vernacular schools today, which leaves national schools comprising of 4% of non-Malay population.
However, much like the many well-intended policies of the Malaysian government, the delivery system of our national policies leaves much to be asked for. Despite having at least eight months after the announcement, and possible more prior to that, MoE has failed to deliver. As reported in the New Straits Times (NST):
One can only hazard to guess at the level of incompetence of the civil servants at the Ministry of Education, probably compounded by a lethargic attitude, where "everything can be done tomorrow". I'm not surprised then, that the majority of the public translates the above inactions, rightly or wrongly, into a belief that the government is not sincere in its objectives to make national schools the preferred choice of schooling system for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion.
Compound the above with the slow but sure metamorphosis of our national schools into proto-religious schools as blogged here and here, it appears unfortunately that both the religious and vernacular educationist will have their way in dividing the Malaysian education system at the expense of national unity.
However, much like the many well-intended policies of the Malaysian government, the delivery system of our national policies leaves much to be asked for. Despite having at least eight months after the announcement, and possible more prior to that, MoE has failed to deliver. As reported in the New Straits Times (NST):
Parents who may have wanted their children to benefit from the move will have to wait until 2008, when the Education Ministry will be better prepared for the move. This will entail, among others, more teachers, a proper syllabus and a viable implementation strategy... The ministry plans to introduce the actual subjects after the manpower, syllabus and textbooks are in order.Eight months is a long time to get prepared for the new subjects in schools. The implementation of teaching the subjects, Mathematics and Science in English for our primary and secondary schools concurrently, which will clearly be infinitely more complicated, was done within a shorter period of time.
One can only hazard to guess at the level of incompetence of the civil servants at the Ministry of Education, probably compounded by a lethargic attitude, where "everything can be done tomorrow". I'm not surprised then, that the majority of the public translates the above inactions, rightly or wrongly, into a belief that the government is not sincere in its objectives to make national schools the preferred choice of schooling system for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion.
Compound the above with the slow but sure metamorphosis of our national schools into proto-religious schools as blogged here and here, it appears unfortunately that both the religious and vernacular educationist will have their way in dividing the Malaysian education system at the expense of national unity.
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