Challenges to unity in schools

2.1. Challenges to unity in schools

The MOE has identified a few challenges towards assessing national unity among students at schools. The difficulty in assessing unity systematically was the first in the list. There is no single tool that is available to assess it. For the analysis on national unity through schooling, the MOE relies on the enrolment data of students and teachers in Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) or the national primary school as an indicator of diversity. The data shows adecrease in diversity of students by ethnicity in SK, which indicates the decline in the diversity of the SK and thus, the reduction of the opportunity to share experiences and values. This might not be a strong tool to measure unity and consequently, does not solve the problem of not having a proper tool of systematic measurement.

There are several reasons for the decline in the diversity of ethnicity in the SK but what is certain is that parents and students have various school options to choose from. This availability of choice is the second challenge to unity mentioned in PPPM. The availability of vernacular primary schools funded by the government and considered as nationaltype schools, leads to the homogeneous ethnicity enrolments by the types of schools with the Malay students in SK, Chinese students in the National- Type Chinese School or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC), and Indian students in the National-Type Tamil School or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT). When There are several reasons for the decline in the diversity of ethnicity in the SK but what is certain is that parents and students have various school options to choose from. This availability of choice is the second challenge to unity mentioned in PPPM. The availability of vernacular primary schools funded by the government and considered as nationaltype schools, leads to the homogeneous ethnicity enrolments by the types of schools with the Malay students in SK, Chinese students in the National- Type Chinese School or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC), and Indian students in the National-Type Tamil School or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT). When

Figure 2 shows the trends of enrolment in the primary level. The left chart shows that only a very small percentage of the total Chinese students in the primary school that is, 8% of 615,651 students enrolled in the SK in 2000, that is and despite that it dropped further by half, from 8% to 4% in 2011. In 2000, only 92% of Chinese students enrolled in SKJC but it increased to 96% in 2011.

The same applies to the Indian ethnic group. The right chart indicates the number of Indian students who were enrolled in SK decreased by 11% in 2011. In 2000, 49% of Indian students‘ enrolled in SK but it dropped to 38% in 2011. This means there is a greater drop in Indian students (11%) in comparison to the Chinese students (4%). The reason for the decline is not mentioned in the PPPM, but what is evident is SK is no longer seen as a good choice by the non-Malays. What is alarming is that this declining trend has not been arrested. One cannot imagine the consequences for national unity in the very near future when all the primary schools are totally segregated by ethnic groups. It has been alleged (because there is no evidence to support this claim) that the increasing Malay and Islamic cultures found in SK has frightened off the non-Malay parents who felt that the SK will make their children more Malay (or even become Muslims). In that case, the reason for the decline of diversity in SK is the groups‘ desire to preserve its cultures and values, in particular their language. Another factor that has often

Figure 2.Enrolment trend in National and National-type Schools (2000-2011). Source: Malaysian Education Blueprint (2012), Exhibit 3-30, pp.3-24.

been associated with the decline is the low quality of the SK. This judgement is made based on the increasing presence of Malay students in the SKJC and the results of the Primary School Assessment Test (UPSR) for mathematics. This again has not been supported with sound evidence.

At the secondary level, the MOE provides funds for only one type of national school, that is the National Secondary School or Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK), which also includes Fully residential (SBP), Technical/Vocational, and National Religious (SMKA) secondary schools in line with the Rahman Talib Report and the Education Act 1961, so as to encourage the common school that could foster national identity and unity. However, there are no restrictions in establishing private schools. Thus, there are several types of private schools available to opt to. For example, there are the Chinese Independent, the Rakyat Islamic Religious, and the International schools. There are more international schools being set up especially with the recent encouragement from the MOE policy which would like to draw more international students to Malaysia but at the same time allow the enrolment of Malaysian nationals up to 30% -- which is really a departure from its past policy. The private schools use the national curriculum but the international schools have their own curriculum. When the choices are many, parents and students may select schools that they are comfortable with, which use the same language that they use at home. This policy of also hinders diversity in the school composition.

Figure 3 shows the enrolment in the different types of primary and secondary schools – public and private, in Malaysia. Only 74% of the total primary school Figure 3 shows the enrolment in the different types of primary and secondary schools – public and private, in Malaysia. Only 74% of the total primary school

Figure 3 Enrolment rates in different school types

is relatively smaller for the religious schools since many of them have decided to become the Government-aided Religious schools or SABK. However, the total number of students in the SMK is commendable at 95%. Yet we need to know if the Chinese students prefer to attend the conforming schools which are formerly Chinese Independent schools which have decided to become government-aided schools like the SABK. Our experience shows us that most of these conforming schools are not heterogeneous but rather cater to one particular ethnic group only, like the SABK. Definitely the figures for the primary school do not help in fostering the national unity.

The teachers ‘ composition by ethnicity in SK is another challenge to national unity. In 2001, 78% of teachers in SK consisted of the Malay ethnic group (see Figure

4) and this figure has increased to 81% in 2011. Indian teachers remain at 5% of all ethnic groups in SK until 2011. But the numbers of Chinese teachers in SK decreased from 17% in 2001, to 14% in 2011. Thus the teacher composition does not represent the national population and the country‘s diversity. Teachers are important as role models. If there is only an homogeneous group of teachers, students will not be able to observe any mixed interactions for them to model. There is a possibility that this could also affect the enrolment of Chinese students in SK because their ―invisibility‖ could make the Chinese students feel vulnerable and thus these students and their parents tend not to choose the SK. Probably this is another reason why SK is not the first choice for Chinese students. Whatever the causes may be, for Chinese students the tendency to choose Chinese school to learn at, or for Chinese teachers to choose Chinese schools to teach at, there is no diversity in all types of primary schools from the early years. It seemed that teachers who themselves attended SJKC as students and then moved on to Independent Chinese schools are more prone to elect to teach their own ethnic group for comfort ability.

Malay Chinese Indian

Figure 4 The teacher trends in SK by ethnicity(2000-2011) Another challenge to national unity mentioned in the Blueprint (PPPM) is the environmental factor. It was found that the environment of SK does not support interactions between the races. This is based on the study by the Quality Assurance of the School Inspectorate or Jemaah Nazir Jaminan Kualiti (JNJK) which focused on the extent the schools foster national unity through the policy of ―mixed seating‖, and the extent to which students demonstrated unity inside and outside the classroom. The study found that the interactions between students of diverse groups had a good level of unity, whether in or outside classroom. However, the researchers felt that the primary Figure 4 The teacher trends in SK by ethnicity(2000-2011) Another challenge to national unity mentioned in the Blueprint (PPPM) is the environmental factor. It was found that the environment of SK does not support interactions between the races. This is based on the study by the Quality Assurance of the School Inspectorate or Jemaah Nazir Jaminan Kualiti (JNJK) which focused on the extent the schools foster national unity through the policy of ―mixed seating‖, and the extent to which students demonstrated unity inside and outside the classroom. The study found that the interactions between students of diverse groups had a good level of unity, whether in or outside classroom. However, the researchers felt that the primary