AS long as there is racism and religious extremism, the debate will continue over whether vernacular schools should or should not exist .

More than decade after the schools were established and formalised after independence, there are segments who are not comfortable with the idea of vernacular schools.

Some would have them abolished overnight while others would like to gradually phase them out.

It is not that the vernacular schools with Chinese and Tamil as the medium of instruction are contrary to the spirit and intent of the Federal Constitution.

The racists who cannot accept vernacular schools because of their failure to use Malay as the medium of instruction are adamant that the institutions are anti-national and non-integrative.

But with evolution of vernacular schools is seldom factored in the one-track minds of the too many racists and bigots in political parties such as Umno, Bersatu, and PAS.

Over the years, vernacular schools have in fact become more integrated with the national system of education.

The importance given to Malay and English have meant that the the use of Chinse and Tamil as the medium of instruction has been reduced.

In fact, not all subjects are taught in these mother tongues.

I understand that with the approval of the Education Ministry, Tamil schools only use the language to instruct 70% of the lessons.

I am sure of a similar scenario in the Chinese schools.

These vernacular schools are well integrated in the national system of education.

Children spend a total of six years in primary schools before they are required to move to the national schools for their secondary education.

The school syllabus in vernacular schools is not too different from the primary national schools.

The curriculums of the vernacular schools are prepared and approved by the Education Ministry .

I don’t understand how the allegations could be made that subjects taught in the vernacular schools have deviated from the national curriculum set by the government.

These are nothing but racial allegations aimed at destabilising the vernacular schools mainly coming from extreme political parties such as Bersatu or PAS.

These allegations must be proven and not simply thrown about.

There is no basis whatsoever to talk about the lack of  Malay language proficiency among students in the vernacular schools.

This is a wild allegation that is not backed by facts and figures.

Even students in the national schools suffer from a lack of proficiency not only in Malay but also English.

The major weakness of our education system is the lack of proficiency in English in both categories of school.

There are good and weak students in both the schools.

It wrong to single out the vernacular schools for the lack of language proficiency and not the national schools.

It is not that those who purvey this argument don’t know about the ground reality but their stubbornness in not accepting the reality of the positive contribution of the vernacular schools.

If ordinary Malays can accept the fact that Mandarin schools have a good system of education, why can’t the elites and racist politicians accept the reality?

More and more Malay parents are sending their children to Chinese schools; isn’t this acknowledgement that they are good?

It is well and good for politicians to call for the abolition of the vernacular schools, but I wonder where  they send their children.

If they are super rich, it is either London or Paris. Those not in this category might send their children to international schools in Malaysia.

This hypocrisy is blatant among those in the forefront of calling for the abolition of the vernacular schools.

To former inspector-general of police Mohammed Hanif Omar, it is sub judice to defend the existence of the vernacular schools as the case is being heard in the court.

However, it is not sub judice for others, especially those in Bersatu, to call for an end to vernacular schools.

The Bersatu youth leader not only called for an end to the vernacular schools but added insult to the injury by saying that Bangladesh and Pakistani workers speak better Malay than those attending the vernacular schools.

Maybe a time has arrived for the Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin to take his stand on the existence of the vernacular schools.

If not, then it will be taken for granted that Muhyiddin’s stand might not be too different from the party’s youth leader.

The present court case filed by the three Malay organisations to abolish the vernacular schools seems to be clever attempt to obfuscate the matter.

By citing the lack of Malay proficiency in the vernacular schools, they want a judicial decision that might put end to the existence of these schools.

This “wolf in sheepskin” method is to show that these organisations are not racist but concerned about the educational performance of the students attending vernacular schools. 

Nothing can be further from the truth.

It is just that these organisations think that a non-racial argument might impress the court enough to decide in their favour.

But the whole world knows that these racists and religious extremists are trying to mislead the ordinary Malaysians.

As far as I am concerned, no right thinking Malaysian would think of ever giving up something is an indispensable part of Malaysia.

Malaysia cannot have diversity and tolerance in the absence of vernacular schools.

In brief, they are here to stay for a very, very long time. – November 30, 2021.

* P. Ramasamy is Penang deputy chief minister II.