A RECENT poll by the UCSI Poll Research Centre showed that 70% of participants agreed that vernacular schools do not hinder national unity.

Another 13%, however, felt these schools were a stumbling block to national unity while 17% were unsure.

The poll was conducted among 1,010 citizens in Malaysia. No details were given as to when the poll was carried out.

To another question, 71% of participants disagreed that vernacular schools were polarising Malaysians, with 13% agreeing and 16% unsure.

65% of those polled said vernacular schools should not be abolished in Malaysia, followed by 16% who agreed that they should be closed down while 19% were unsure.

The poll also gave a breakdown of feedback from Malay respondents, numbering 283 in total.

63% of these Malay respondents disagreed that vernacular schools are polarising Malaysians, 61% said that these schools are not hindering national unity and 55% said such schools should not be abolished.

“This survey shows that vernacular schools are still relevant. 

“Two in three respondents with children below the age of six would want to send their children to Chinese primary schools,” said the pollster.

Out of 1,010 respondents in the survey, 41% went to a national primary school, 39% went to a Chinese primary school, and 20% went to a Tamil primary school.

Among the respondents, 475 (47%) had children below the age of six. 

Out of these 475 respondents, 323 (68%) said that they would send their children to a Chinese primary school.

Their reasons were: students are very disciplined (69%), teachers very committed (67%), better facilities in Chinese schools (57%) and Chinese being their mother tongue (40%).

Some 152 respondents (32%) said they would not send their children to Chinese schools. 

Their reasons were: Chinese is not their mother tongue (65%), teaching is very rigid (64%), child might be left out (55%) and no Chinese school nearby (34%).

In recent years, many politicians and nationalist activists have called for vernacular schools to be closed down, arguing that these schools were a stumbling block in achieving national unity.

Among the main proponents of such a move is former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Last month, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh called for a reassessment of the vernacular education system, saying that these schools were only dividing Malaysians.

“Umno Youth is concerned with the development of this current polemic which has intensified the flames of division.

“Indeed, all that is happening is a reflection of how, after nearly 70 years of independence, there still exists a gap in values and a separation of understanding among the multi-ethnic Malaysian population,” he had said in a Facebook post.

National Council of Professors fellow Prof Dr Teo Kok Seong is another person who had called for a reassessment of the vernacular education system.

“We have already allowed and encouraged ethnic segregation for children at a very tender age, and this is bad for national unity.

“And you can see its effects. When these primary school children move on to secondary school, which only has one national stream, racial polarisation is very obvious,” he was reported as saying last month.

Last November, the Court of Appeal ruled that vernacular schools in Malaysia are constitutional.

The judges said that the federal constitution protects the use of Tamil and Chinese in these schools even though the Malay language is recognised as Malaysia’s national language.

The appellate court made this ruling after dismissing appeals by four non-governmental organisations which had challenged the constitutionality of vernacular schools.

The four groups were the Islamic Education Development Council (Mappim), Confederation of Malaysian Writers Association (Gapena), Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) and Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia (I-Guru). – April 8, 2024.