No to religious, vernacular schools at primary level, says Perlis mufti

Ravin Palanisamy Elill Easwaran Ravin Palanisamy, Elill Easwaran Updated 3 years ago · Published on 20 Sep 2020 7:11PM · 8 Comments

Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin says govt should implement a single stream primary school system that would help foster unity and harmony among young children of various races. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, September 20, 2020.

PUTRAJAYA should implement a single stream primary school system that would help foster unity and harmony among young children of various races, says Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.

Mohd Asri, also known as Dr Maza said going through a common education system in the first six years would be key in fostering unity between the races.

He also said with a common educational background and shared experiences, it would be easier to instil Malaysian values.

“We need all young children in Malaysia not to have any prejudice towards each other.

“So, maybe at primary school level, they all should attend the national school instead of vernacular or Islamic religious schools, so that they can learn about shared experiences.

“The reason to implement this at primary level is because there is no hatred, they don’t know political stories, they don’t know about races or different skin colours. All they know is that they have friends of different races,” he said during a forum today to celebrate the 50th year of the Rukun Negara.

He said, at secondary school level, students can then choose to enrol in the school they want, provided they learn about living together with all races.

The Perlis mufti said that the proposed primary school should be patriotic in nature and that everyone must go through the same experience.

“Currently many young Malaysian who go to religious or vernacular schools end up being with their own kind. They will not have the experience of being together.

“So, if we really want to build this country, we have to accept (a single stream school system).

“Otherwise, we’re just wasting time talking about all this (unity) but, on the ground, people might still be arguing about race and religion,” he said.

Mohd Asri said that he wrote about this matter to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik.

He added that he’ll also raise this issue to the current government.

“People who want religious or vernacular schools might be angry with me but if we want unity in future, we need to do this.

“We need this for our future generation,” he said. – September 20, 2020

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Comments

  • The sekolah kebangsaan standard is somewhere between hopeless and abysmal. Try and rescue them. Dont screw the future of the whole country by poking your racist nose into vernacular school affairs.

    Posted 3 years ago by Simple Sulaiman · Reply

  • Finally some refreshing thought.

    Posted 3 years ago by H. Mokhtar · Reply

  • Its called education, not putting everybody under one roof. Government school education is useless, primary schools with that syllabus will kill their learning aptitude The Islamic doctrination being another thing. This talk nonsense guy should suggest to fix that before shooting off his mouth.

    Posted 3 years ago by Alphonz Jayaratnam · Reply

  • So now you have entered the politics of UMNO and PAS. Do you know why many Malays send their children to Chinese Schools? This is the answer to your idiotic claim of Vernacular schools.

    Posted 3 years ago by Swaminaidu Venkatasamy · Reply

  • This is exactly what Singapore government has done and is doing. Can we emulate them?

    Posted 3 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • Why not go all the way & improve the education system while you're at it AND make sure everyone get a fair shot at getting into local unis based on results, it's not just about language and religion, it's about whether working your butts off all the way to STPM actually get you anywhere based on merit.

    Posted 3 years ago by A Subscriber · Reply

  • Thats true but the kids copy the parents. And in any case the teachers are the problem with their racist views. The make up of teachers in state schools should reflect that of society as a whole. I know of one child of Indian descent with Hindu / Christian parents who was told by his teacher to attend Islam classes with the Muslims in his class. Without any regard for the familys wishes. In Kelana Jaya not some rural backwater. The child didnt know how to stand up for himself at age 7 and was reluctant to go to school as he felt scared of his teacher. This is unacceptable in state schools. No wonder parents choose private education if they can afford it.

    Posted 3 years ago by Malaysia New hope · Reply

  • Yes..single stream is the future of this country

    Posted 3 years ago by Khairul Anuar · Reply