Vision Schools

Remember a few years back when our former Prime Minister mooted and started the Vision school concept? There was a major uproar, particularly from the Chinese education communities. Most fear that it was a sinister government attempt at taking "control" of the Chinese schools, which has operating fairly independently to date.

However, if reports in the New Straits Times (NST) is to be believed, one of the few "vision schools" set up in Subang in 2002 has proven itself to be fairly successful in achieving its objectives without compromising on the independence of the vernacular schools.

In essence the "Vision School" concept involves putting a national school and 1-2 other vernacular schools together at the same site to share common facilities such as the school canteen and sports ground. It is hoped that the close proximity between the students of various races as well as organised activities between the schools will encourage greater interaction between them and foster national unity.

There are eight Vision Schools nationwide, but only three — Subang Jaya, Lurah Bilut in Pahang and Teluk Sengat in Johor — comprises of the national, Chinese and Tamil Schools. According to the NST, the Subang Jaya school is considered the cream of the crop due to smooth management, experienced teachers and excellent camaraderie between the staff of all three components.

After initial skepticism, parents are apparently now anxious to enrol their school-going children into the Vision school as reported by the NST on Jan 4th.

The Vision School in Subang Jaya, which encompasses three schools — one national, one Chinese and one Tamil — saw nearly 400 Standard One pupils being registered on the first day of school.

Many youngsters on their first day of schooling today looked out anxiously for their parents, who milled about outside the classrooms of the three schools: Sekolah Kebangsaan Dato Onn Jaafar, SRJK (C) Tun Tan Cheng Lock and SRJK (Tamil) Tun Sambanthan.

The school, which opened its doors in 2002 amid much scepticism, is now well received and has had to turn down hundreds of applications due to limited seats.

One of the parents, A. Sivajiran, said he chose to send his seven-year-old daughter to the Vision School because it had a "good and beautiful concept".

"It is wonderful, I am all for it. I have been watching this school closely for two years and though at first it may have seemed there was not much integration, it is happening," he said.

In a follow up report by the NST yesterday, Koh Lay Chin, the reporting journalist went so far as to state that the objectives of the Vision school "has succeeded".

All parents the New Sunday Times spoke to support the concept, though they say the integration aspect could be developed.

"I am happy, no complaints," said S. Danapaul, the father of two children who are in Standard Two and Five at Tun Sambanthan. But if you talk about integration, it is not 100 per cent successful, but yes it does happen. You can see it in the canteen especially."

However, what I would regard as a limited success did not come easy. The headmaster of SRJK (C) Tun Tan Cheng Lock (TTCL) said that the initial scepticism about the school was "hard to deal with".

"It was stressful for the first two years, as the Chinese community did not agree with the concept. However, parents are accepting the idea, confident that whatever the Chinese schools have, we have, too."

Certain Chinese educationists, who opposed the Vision school concept quite rigourously, have apparently begun to make site visits to the Subang Jaya school to "study" the implication of such schools and some were quoted to have been "impressed".

The question then to be posed to Malaysians of all races, is Vision schools the right approach to achieving national integration? Having spoken just yesterday in my post with regards to some alarming behaviour of secondary school students who have not had much interaction opportunities in vernacular primary schools, would Vision schools be the solution?

Readers should also know that the Ministry runs another programme - Rancangan Integrasi Murid Untuk Perpaduan (RIMUP) to promote racial integration. This programme, which I've written about here and here earlier, have designated national and vernacular schools run joint activities and programmes but without sharing school facilities and resources. Understandably, due to its less "intrusive" nature, the RIMUP programme have been faced with less opposition from the vernacular educationists.

In my opinion, the Ministry of Education should implement all activities acceptable by all parties in the most extensive manner possible. For example, if the RIMUP programme faces the least resistance from various parties, then it should be implemented as fast as possible to all schools, even if the "integration" element is the least effective. It apears that this is the strategy undertaken under Pak Lah's admistration.

At the same time, the Ministry should continue to engage the parties opposed to concepts such as the Vision school and convince these parties that such schools are not only in the interest of the country, but are also in the interest of the students who will grow up not as "Chinese", "Malay" or "Indians", but as Malaysians. Again in my humble opinion, the Vision school concept provides greater racial "integration" elements and opportunities when compared to RIMUP. An education official has said whether there are to be more Vision schools depended on what the communities, especially the Chinese, wanted.

However, in the long term, and in the interest of the country, we really need to move beyond the concepts of "Chinese school", "Malay school" or "Tamil school" and set up the single stream education system of "Malaysian schools" which will at the same time protect and celebrate the cultural and linguistic diversity of Malaysian ethnic groups.

To quote a parent, who would summarise my arguments:

"I guess, the national school is still the best when it comes to integration."

The "national school" should not be in the form that it is today, but one which will cater to all Malaysians and their diverse interests in the future.