EDUCATORS and schools must work to foster an environment that ensures racial harmony among students, said a parent group leader.

“It all comes down to school administrators and the effort they take to ensure harmony,” said Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) secretary Tunku Munawirah Putra.

Tunku Munawirah was responding to the recent furore over the alleged recital of a Christian prayer at the Methodist Girls’ School (MGS) in Penang.

“The school administrators must go the extra mile to ensure there are special programmes that would foster unity and harmony.

“They need to take careful steps to ensure that every programme or effort activated in schools do not cause intentional, or unintentionally, segregation.”

She, however, believed segregation in schools is not a prevalent problem.

“I really don’t believe that segregation is widespread. The students are separated only by agama and moral classes, that’s all.

“As far as we know, most of canteen sellers (in schools) are Muslims, except for some Chinese schools but the food is halal,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

The Malaysian Insight recently visited the Methodist Girls’ School (MGS), where the canteen operator said girls of various races appear to be friends with one another, and are not split along racial or religious lines as claimed by Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy.

MGS is at the centre of controversy after 35-year-old Muslim activist, Muhsin Abdul Latheef, lodged a police report over the alleged recitation of Christian prayers at the school’s prize-giving ceremony.

The prayers were allegedly part of a school board member’s speech on the topic of unity.

It was reported that the speech urging racial harmony had been prompted by some Muslim pupils’ refusal to buy from the school’s non-Muslim food sellers. The boycott claim was repeated by Ramasamy.

Muhsin, in his report, accused the school of proselytising to its Muslim pupils, which he said outnumber the non-Muslim pupils. He said there are 347 Muslim pupils and only 161 non-Muslims, and 26 Muslim teachers and 14 non-Muslim teachers.

Police have opened an investigation into his allegations, and will call up the complainant and school authorities for their statements.

The Federation of Councils of Christian Mission Schools Malaysia recently said it is seeking a meeting with the education minister to talk about the recent events at MGS and clear the air. – October 6, 2019.