Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email More cases of teachers picking on Indian students here have emerged.
Several parents of children attending a primary school here have lodged police reports since November last year alleging that five teachers in the school had physically and verbally abused Indian students.
R. Sathasnam, 52, said he and another parent had complained to the school’s administration repeatedly but the abuses continued.
He alleged that these five teachers regularly hit the students and told them to transfer out of the school, as they (the teachers) were “fed-up of seeing their faces”.
“One of the teachers called some Indian students derogatory names ,” alleged Sathasnam.
He alleged that many Indian students were slapped, kicked, punched and caned by these teachers for misdemeanours such as talking while lining-up to enter the classroom.
“My 10-year-old son was lifted-up by the ears by a male teacher and slapped and kicked for talking before entering the classroom after recess in February,” alleged Sathasnam.
He claimed his son’s ears turned blue-black and his cheeks swelled after the beating. When he rushed his son to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, the doctor there advised him to file a police report.
Another parent R. Viganaspary, 40, said her son was repeatedly hit on the head with a rolled-up newspaper and caned on the legs for not having a particular exercise book.
Meanwhile, Coalition of Malaysian Indian NGOs secretary Gunaraj George, who met Sathasnam and Viganaspary recently, said the coalition would present a memorandum on the matter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi soon.
“These are young impressionable children and the alleged incidents will only teach them to hate,” said Gunaraj.
When contacted, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator T. Murugiah said he would speak to the principal next week when school reopens.
Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong said he would comment only after he had seen copies of the police reports.
Meanwhile, MIC's Saravanan says:
"We are working on it, as I have earlier said that we would get the bottom of the issue and send a clear message to the powers that be. This is despite, my own community saying whatever they like about me and the MIC over the handling of the issue. I know some people wanted me to be more vocal on this race based issue but I choose to handle it my way. This is just the start. We in the MIC are not going to take this lying down. We have our way of dealing with these issues. We are not in the opposition to just say whatever we like, throwing words etc.
Pretty big words, but if nothing comes out in the end of it, MIC will be seen as an utter failure, a weakling who is not able to flex its muscles at the Education Ministry. Secondly, people want fast, immediate response and action, not a delayed action after a year or so. Third, all this "we have our own way" secrecy is dinosaur-age now. People don't trust "discussion behind closed door" stories anymore.
MP: edited.
what a joke, after 50 yrs , MIC and MCA and Gerakan, the **** of UMNO still working on racial abuses of non-malays…in National schools…tambi please go to tamil school and study hard…
Yes , need fast and effective outcome . End of the day what matters is result and noting else . If ones fails and give a 100pages of press statement nobody gonna care but if one wins and the ppl will give 100pages of praises and well done notes .
Abuse of Indian students in Sekolah Kebangsaan has been a perennial one. Whatever cases or racial slurs and physical abuse that are reported are just the tip of the iceberg.
Normally the school head would sweep the problem under the rug. He wouldn’t report to the District or State Education Depatments fearing adverse report on his administration. In certain cases he would just suggest to the parents concerned to get their children transfered to another school.
Bullying and not allowing talented students to become members of school teams and to represent the school at inter-school and inter-district activities are also rampant. These are done under the guise of affirmative action.
Unless the Indian leaders speak up and seek to redress these issues, they would only get worse.
The Indians have not only become marginalized but even their dignity is being trampled.
I am worried that Indians community have to take the law into their own hand to solve these racial abuse in schools if related authorities fail to tackle these problems soon.
😉
it needs a major mindset swipe across the nation . Looking at the UiTM students protest and such behaviour of teachers it looks like it will take years or maybe decades .
I’m pasting part of a writeup from a blogger , DrHsuDR . It’s a good article and a good vision .
Non-Malay are willing to change . How about Malays ???
source: http://hsudarren.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/we-are-all-one-big-family/
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I have asked myself many times how this is so, when in every day life, the ordinary folks can mix ad help each other without discrimination, why at government levels, there are such obvious discriminations? Each time , my answer is the same. The government’s raced based policy is at fault.
Anwar was perceived to have done a lot of wrongs when he was UMNO Minister and DPM. But people change. I agree with Haris that we should forgive him for his past deeds if he is now really for a fair and equal Malaysia. i agree with his proposed ‘Malaysian Economic Policy’ , to replace the skewed NEP. Above all, I was very touch to read what he had said in a ceramah : “Anak Melayu anak kita, Anak Cina Anak Kita, Anak India anak kita, mengapa harus kita bezakan”? Yes, we do not know whether this is from his heart but at least his actions and words have been very consistent the past year or so, unlike certain BN leaders , still trying to play race cards to gain support.
Yes, why should we differentiate ourselves into Malays , Chinese and indians after 51 years of independence? We should just be Malaysians, like the Indonesians, or the Thais. Why should we still required to fill in the column of ‘race’ whenever we go to government departments?
As I have oft mentioned , we are all inside the same boat, if we picture our country as a big big boat. Our destiny is one no matter where we sit inside this boat. If the boat succeeds to reach our destinations, all will benefit. If the boat sinks, all will be affected. So why the differentiation into ‘Bumi” “Nonbumi” and so on.
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This is happening in Selangor, so can our heroes of PR the self-proclaimed defenders of the community do something about it rather than harping on about UMNO and MIC ?
Such abuse is happening to all students and not just Indian students. It is just that when it happens to Indians it is a racial issue but when it happens to Malays it is a case of discipline.
No one sure accept such act of racism and this must be dealt severely. But we also must make sure our Indian students behave themselves. It is a perenial problem also that our students are the worst, thanks to Tamil movies. Just ask any teachers.
Killer,
Definately our PR will do something but I’m doubt whether you are real tamilan or the chiplak one.
Don’t always condemn our Indians, If you thinks that our Indians have some attitute problem why not you provide us some tips b’cos as all of us know you are Mr.Best in everything so why not you provide us with some tips. If cannot then pls. shout your mouth .