ANALYSIS OF PPPM AS A CURRICULUM REFORM

3. ANALYSIS OF PPPM AS A CURRICULUM REFORM

Historically, Malaysian schools were built based on the needs of each race before the Independence. There were English school, and vernacular Malay, Chinese and Indian schools. The medium of instructions were different. Each type of school was using their own textbooks, curriculum and they chose their own teachers; teachers and the curriculum for Chinese and Indian schools were imported from China and India, while that of the religious school from Egypt and al-Azhar. The focus of education then was to maintain the loyalty of the students towards their countries of origin which somehow disadvantaged unity among races then.

However, the awareness of the political leaders and some citizens for national unity after the formation of the Federation and the British desire to see a national education system that could unite the people before they give Independence has led to change in the education system that was left by the British. The Razak Report 1956 had as its main objective national unity through the Malay language as the national language that should be used in all schools, while preserving the languages and cultures of the other ethnic groups. The Rahman Talib Report in 1960 on the other hand has taken out communal secondary schools from the national system of assisted schools to ensure students of all races attend both National and National-type secondary schools only.

A lot of other changes were made throughout the years for the education system to enhance unity. However, after 56 years of Independence, Malaysia is still struggling for national unity, to think as One Malaysian before their racial identity. In this context, it is useful to examine the legal document related to education for unity. One of the most significant changes in the Education Act 1996 was the deletion of the clause that bears the National spirit through giving the Minister of Education the authority to instruct the conversion of a National type primary school into a National primary school:

(2) Where at any time the Minister is satisfied that a National-type primary school may suitably be converted into a National primary school, he may be order direct that the school shall become a National primary school.

[The Education Act 1961, Clause 21(2)]

With this amendment, the Education Minister has no more right to convert SJK and other vernacular schools into National Primary schools or to close it down if found uneconomical due to declining number of students. This makes it harder to unite students under one roof, that is, the national school. The pluralistic system of schooling is one of the major obstacles to unity. The situation is worsened when the MOE allows for the opening of more national-type schools and even begin to give more funds for their physical development. In this manner, the Federal government has departed from its earlier spirit of encouraging Malaysian children to attend the National SK and thus, it will cause the wedge to cut deeper. It will make it almost impossible to persuade the Chinese or Indian students to learn at the SK.

Moreover, section 17 of the Education Act 1996,specifically mentions that the national language shall not be the medium of instruction in National Type schools:

The National language shall be the main medium of instruction in all educational institutions in the National Education System except any national-type school established under section 28 or any other educational institution exempted by Minister from this section.

(Education Act 1996, Sec. 17) That the SJK and other types of private education institutions are not obliged to use the

National language or Malay language as the medium of instructions has watered down the National Language as an instrument to unite the nation. This Act thus contradicted the spirit and philosophy of national education for unity through a common language, National language or Malay language as the medium of instructions has watered down the National Language as an instrument to unite the nation. This Act thus contradicted the spirit and philosophy of national education for unity through a common language,

Furthermore, the pressure for Chinese political support led the government to loosen up its own regulation and to accept the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) holders for admission into higher institutions of learning. The UEC which is a standardized test for Chinese independent high school students was not recognized by Public Higher Education Institutions in the past, is now beginning to be accepted for admissions. In May 2004 the National Accreditation Board (LAN) required students entering local private colleges using any qualification other than the Malaysian Certification of Education (SPM) to obtain a pass in the SPM Malay paper. However, this drew protests from the Chinese community and as a result the then Minister of Higher Education Dr Shafie Salleh exempted the UEC students from this requirement (Wikipedia, Chinese independent high school).

The discussion above explains the major challenges facing the nation in its effort to foster national unity through education. It attempts to explain the changes that have taken place within the last decade, and the reason for the decline in diversity in the National schools which are located in the multiracial centres. The SK is not the first choice among non-Malays especially the Chinese for several reasons, in particular to preserve their language and cultures, and to some also it was perceived to be of lower quality.

One of the challenges to unity mentioned in PPPM was the declining number of Chinese teachers in SK. This issue is not discussed further throughout the plan. It is important to have more non-Malay teachers in SK so that this will attract more Chinese and Indian students who can be made to feel at home. The MOE should develop a strategy to catch the bright non-Malay students after the SPM and offer them a scholarship to take up teaching. The presence of more non-Malay teachers in the SK and SMK is very crucial as role models of unity within diversity among adults for the young learners.

The outcome of one of the current strategies used, that is the establishment of Wawasan or Vision schools has not been reported anywhere. Whether there was any improvement in terms of national unity or the problems it faced has not been elaborated further. Intuitively one might expect that these schools would encourage superficial intermingling but not deep rooted relationships since students only interact outside the classroom and are under their respective management system, which is separate from one another. A study (Othman, Azam; Roslan, N and Sheikh Ahmad, I., 2012) involving 887 primary students of the Vision Schools found that the intercultural communication in the Vision Schools had triggered intercultural understanding and awareness of cultural diversity in the schools. The dynamics of intercultural interaction The outcome of one of the current strategies used, that is the establishment of Wawasan or Vision schools has not been reported anywhere. Whether there was any improvement in terms of national unity or the problems it faced has not been elaborated further. Intuitively one might expect that these schools would encourage superficial intermingling but not deep rooted relationships since students only interact outside the classroom and are under their respective management system, which is separate from one another. A study (Othman, Azam; Roslan, N and Sheikh Ahmad, I., 2012) involving 887 primary students of the Vision Schools found that the intercultural communication in the Vision Schools had triggered intercultural understanding and awareness of cultural diversity in the schools. The dynamics of intercultural interaction

Further analysis is made on the three phases or Waves planned for unity until 2025. Among the actions proposed is to improve the transition process of SJK students to SMK by upgrading their standards of Malay language. In addition, students will be taught using the LINUS (Literacy and Numeracy) program to improve their command of the Malay language which could lead to better intercultural communication among the races. SJK students will feel more confident and comfortable to enrol at SMK when they believe that their grasp of Malay language is as good if not better than those of the Malay students. We think that this action is important and can be done with vigilant preparation. Furthermore, the plan to strengthen civic and citizenship education with more activities seemed promising but will be successful only if it is followed by meaningful actions beyond the border of the classroom, especially in the form of community services across racial divides. As for improvement in the pedagogies of Moral and Islamic education, that is for effective teaching and will not provide for diverse students‘ interaction or the practice since the classes for these subjects are separated by religious affiliation i.e. between Muslims and non-Muslims.

In general, it is important to actually unite students in the schools by all means. But having too many options for schooling is not helping Malaysians to unite. A provision of the Education Act 1996 recognized private institutions as a component of the National Education System as mentioned below:

There shall be three categories of educational institutions in the National Education System, namely – Government educational institutions; Government-aided educational institutions; and Private educational institutions. (Educational Act 1996, sec. 16)

This contradicts the Education Act of 1961 which did not register private schools under the National Education System. It appears that the current government is giving the green light for so many types of private schools to emerge and thus students will have more school options to choose from. Private education is usually for a certain class of society who can afford the expensive tuition fees. So in a sense, the system will also be dividing the society by social classes. In a democratic society, people are free to make choices but this choice must not infringe upon the right of others.

Language is one of the major tools of unity, therefore the agreed upon National language should be maintained as the medium of the instruction in all schools Language is one of the major tools of unity, therefore the agreed upon National language should be maintained as the medium of the instruction in all schools

be given to private schools. Besides enforcing the national curriculum, these schools ought to teach using the medium of the National language and given the opportunity to use another language for certain subjects. It is not adequate with just adhering to the national curriculum. We do not need so many types of schools. The United States, Indonesia, Thailand, United Kingdom and many other countries have only one type of national school although the country is multiracial. In fact these countries allow for the establishment of private schools but most of these schools use the national language as its medium of instruction although they are developed by minorities. For the sake of preserving their mother tongue, this is taught as a language subject rather than as the medium of instruction. It is an established fact that Malaysia is the only country where the minority are allowed to establish its own school system. Malaysia possesses the most unique system because of its historical antecedents. According to the Minority Rights Group Report on the Chinese in South- East Asia (1992:2), ―Malaysia has Southeast Asia‘s most comprehensive Chinese-language system of education.‖ Tan (1997) argues that the Chin ese schools in Malaysia are unique because ―Even in Singapore, where the Chinese constitute more than 75 percent of the population and where Mandarin as a language is taught more extensively than before, schools teaching entirely in Chinese no longer exist ‖ (p. 1).

In most countries, there is only one type of national education system having a common medium of instruction, which is usually the language of the majority or the indigenous group. It is time after more than half a century of Independence, that all Malaysians reflect and consider the necessity of the younger generation to integrate into the existing society for their own well-being and prepare them as citizens of the country, rather than emphasizing their cultural differences. There must be sacrifices and it is going to be difficult in the beginning but if no efforts are taken, the Malaysian identity will never be formed and the fear of a racial crisis will always loom ahead. Attempts must be made to see all Malaysian children study under the same roof, learn to know and understand each other, experience their different cultures by visiting each other‘s homes and celebrating their festivals together, help one another in difficulty and so on. This has been successfully achieved before through the National-type English schools. The English schools then seem to be the elite schools and provide a sort of neutral ground for all Malaysians since English was foreign to all. But this was only true for the elites and not the poor Malay, Chinese and Indian masses. Then, an English education was not free and affordable to all. We should not forget that May

13, 1969 incident which was partially due to the consequences of the differences in 13, 1969 incident which was partially due to the consequences of the differences in

Attempts also ought to be made to transform institutions that promote racial exclusiveness such as the private higher education institutions, the independent, private secondary Chinese schools and the private religious secondary schools.

However, upon reflection over the Education Acts, that is when we compare the Education Act 1961 and 1996, we still need to improvise it for the sake of our unity. There is only one condition that schools need to fulfil in order to teach Mandarin and Tamil language at SK and SMK. Section 2 of Education Act 1996 stated that schools are allowed to teach those languages when there are 15 students to learn the language. This is different from Education Act 1961 which stated two conditions, the first is the same as above, and the second one is when the teaching of those subjects is reasonable and practical.

Another act which has also been improvised is the teaching of the indigenous language, Arabic, Japanese, German and French languages in schools. The act says

(ii) The indigenous languages shall be made available if it reasonable and practicable so to do and if the parents of at least fifteen pupils in the school so request;

(iii) Arabic, Japanese, German or French or any other foreign language may be made available if it reasonable and practicable so to do; (Education Act 1996, Sec.2)

Therefore, the plan to strengthen the support for other languages to be taught in SK,in the second Wave of PPPM is laudable. The third Wave which mentioned that MOE will reconsider other types of school than national school when SK and SMK should be the leading choice of parents Therefore, the plan to strengthen the support for other languages to be taught in SK,in the second Wave of PPPM is laudable. The third Wave which mentioned that MOE will reconsider other types of school than national school when SK and SMK should be the leading choice of parents

Finally, an issue that will arise when Chinese or Indian students enrol in SK and SMK, ison the means of preserving their culture and language. Even now when the MOE emphasises Malay language as the national language and desires to increase the hours allocated to Malay in SJKs, the parochial Chinese community and associations begin to resist the idea by using the common weapon of self preservation which consider this as an act to reduce their cultures, especially their language. This is more so when being business people, they consider Mandarin as having an important economic value locally and internationally. Mandarin can be used at home and other settings. The Education Act 1996 has mentioned that the Mandarin subject as well as other languages can be offered when the number of students reaches 15 per school. More importantly, the MOE has decided to offer Mandarin, Tamil and Arabic as additional languages in the primary schools. Cultural practices are also allowed as usual in order for us to embrace and conform to other culture as well. Most Malaysians appreciate the Lion Dance and thus, it should not be a problem if this is taught through clubs in the school system.

Appreciation of the cultures and values of others can be achieved through other means such as modifying the content of civic and moral education. The content could

be made in such a way that students would understand and recognize the value of diversity and the salient points of each culture.