Posts Tagged ‘Education’

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State leaders barred from school functions

March 24th, 2009
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The letter says it clearly:

hishamuddin-ban-school-vip

source: Malaysiakini

The copy of letter was provided by Petaling Jaya City councillor A Thiruvenggadam, who is also the PKR PJ Selatan division vice-president. He said that he had followed Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim to the Highlands Tamil school in Klang last Sunday.

“As a local councillor, I am often approached by the PTA and school headmasters to help them out with problems related to the deteriorating school’s facilities.

“Now, the school officials have apologetically told me that they will not be able to invite me to their official functions. I do not mind helping the schools even if I am not invited because my motive is to serve the schools in need of repair.”

More info on the letter:

In an education department list on who can attend official events in all schools in the state, Pakatan Rakyat leaders names are glaringly missing.

The education department letter’s list was issued to all school headmasters in Selangor earlier this month.

The letter from the district education department instead stated that the education minister has appointed 73 Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan leaders who were sanctioned to attend official events in the state’s schools.

“Only these officials named in the attached list are allowed to attend official functions in the government schools in the state,” the letter dated March 11, 2009 stated.

Previously, all school heads were verbally told not invite Pakatan leaders for any official functions in schools.

In the recent parliamentary sitting, a government official denied that there was any directive barring elected leaders of the Pakatan state governments, said Petaling Jaya City councillor A Thiruvenggadam, who gave a copy of the letter to Malaysiakini.

Well, the issue could have been handled in a more statemanly manner, but unfortunately the schools have been turned into a political tool. The list could have just contained state education department officers names, instead of politicians. Obviously the minister has the right to appoint anyone, but doesn’t seem right.

The government official may also be punished for misleading the House.

The state leaders, hopefully will not use this reason as an excuse not to help the schools, especially the partially-aided ones.  As it is, one HM (tamil school) said that PIBG are not allowed to collect fund from public for school events/infrastructure. So, he is at loss on how to go about doing improvement in the schools. Money from government sorely lacking, and not allowed to collect from public. Forced to fully depend on the “guardian of the indian community” party.

Note: this is a repost served from memory. Accidentally deleted the original post.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia

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Somaraj cuts grass to finance studies

March 23rd, 2009
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Another role model for us to emulate. The boy does not make his family’s financial status an excuse to study well. He helps his father to cut grass on weekends to earn extra income. I think the hospital should also reward the student as an employee’s son had achieved 7As. Even RM5000 as part of its CSR will go some way in reducing the financial burden. Perhaps they could even offer a scholarship and bond the student for certain years.

Eighteen-year-old S. Somaraj may be a top student, having scored 7As and 3Bs in his recent SPM examination, but he is forced to help his father with his part-time job of cutting grass on weekends.

Somaraj, a Penang Free School student, hopes to become a doctor in a private hospital here, where his father, M. Sangkaran, 46, works as an ambulance driver.

“I want to make my parents proud of my achievements. But it will cost more than RM250,000 for medical studies. I hope my parents can raise the money somehow.

“With me helping my father on weekends, he can earn about RM300 extra a month in addition to his RM1,700 salary at the hospital,” he said, adding that his mother K. Dharamambal, 39, earned RM800 monthly as a factory worker.

Luckily for Somaraj, who is a keen football player, his plight has caught the attention of state MIC youth treasurer J. Dhinagaran,

Dhinagaran, who is Penang Indian Football Association president, visited Sangkaran upon learning that he, Somaraj and another son Sartish were cutting grass outside a house in Batu Lanchang, here, yesterday.

He presented RM2,001 in aid to Sankaran and suggested that Somaraj pursue his medical studies at AIMST University in Sg Petani.

Sangkaran said the aid would be used to partially finance a foundation course at the university. “I’ve heard the one-year foundation fee at the university is about RM17,000. I hope I can raise enough money for that,” he said.

Dhinagaran said he would support Somaraj’s application for a scholarship from the Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED), which runs the university.

“Somaraj has a bright future,” he said.

Those interested in giving Somaraj a helping hand can contact Dhinagaran at 012-4879030.

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PSD scholarship criteria for 2009

March 23rd, 2009
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12,000 scholarship and 6277 straight As students. Shouldn’t be difficult to do some matching and adjustment to ensure all the students get scholarships. Only problem will be for the field of study, or those who fail the interviews. There will be an excess of 5923 scholarships which can be allocated to those students with special criteria – poor background, sports achievement, outstanding extra curricular activities, special needs, disabled students etc. Plenty to go around with.

Do note that nothing was mentioned about the 60/40 or 55/45 ratio. Would race be a criteria? Perhaps it can be used for of the scholarship. After awarding 6277, and another 2500 special cases, let’s say we put the balance of 3300 places into 55:25:10:10 (bumiputra (not malay only): chinese: indian: others) ratio. Unless the Agong says otherwise.

From the Star:

There will be no automatic scholarships for those who score nine 1As and above in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination this year.

Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said the scholarships were only a benefit for last year.

Last year, students who got nine 1As in the 2007 SPM examination were automatically eligible for scholarships from PSD for Form Six until the first degree locally.

“Last year, if they had nine 1As and they got into Form Six, we offered them scholarships. If they did well and entered local universities, the scholarships continued.

“This year, there has been no announcement. There is no decision yet,” Ismail told the New Sunday Times.

What remains this year, he said, were the 2,000 overseas and 10,000 local scholarships.

“Within the overseas allocation, we also reserve scholarships for those who get into elite schools. It can be Ivy League schools, the top school in England or the Group of Eight universities in Australia.

“For that kind of scholarship, you have to get a place there. So it doesn’t matter even if you study on your own. Once you get a place in Harvard, we offer you a scholarship.

“But it must be in the field that the government wants. If you take classical dancing, then of course there will be no scholarship.”

Last year, said Ismail, 87 students received this type of scholarship and this year, it will be offered as part of the 2,000 overseas scholarships.

Aside from these, there are also scholarships for foreign universities that have a local campus — Nottingham, Monash, Curtin and Swinburne — as well as the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology University.

If a student gets nine 1As in the 2007 SPM examination, enters A-Levels and then gets a place in Monash University, would he still be eligible?

“Yes, he can still be considered. He can apply, but it is not automatically given. He becomes like any other applicant.”

Ismail said there would be no reduction in the number of scholarships offered by PSD as a result of the current economic conditions.

“So far, the government has said it will maintain the number of overseas scholarships at 2,000 places and local scholarships at 10,000 places.

“This year, we have 1,676 students with straight 1As and 6,277 who obtained all As. There are only 2,000 overseas scholarships.

“The problem now is that all the bright students want to do medicine in England. That is not possible.

“It is not that they don’t qualify. It is because medical schools overseas now have an international quota and we have to compete with the rest of the world as they are very selective.”

Ismail said the department was also working with the Higher Education Ministry this year to retain some of the top students for local research universities as part of efforts to improve the universities’ rankings.

“We will probably give them extras to retain them, and they may possibly be able to spend one semester or so overseas. I will have to work this out with the universities and the ministry.”

The selection criteria for overseas scholarships has also been changed.

“Last year, it was 70, 10, 10, 10. This year, it is 75 points for academic excellence, 10 points for curriculum, 10 points for family economic background and five points for the interview.

He said there was the interview process for overseas scholarships, but not for the local ones, which require 80 points for academic excellence and 20 for economic background.

“We still have the interview process for overseas scholarships because we are sending these students away for five or six years. We want to see if they are prepared mentally. We’ve had cases where students started feeling lonely in their second year.

“This is a big investment. When you go to medical school, we have to spend over a million ringgit. That is why the interview is important and it is the tipping point.”

For this year, the government has allocated more than RM832 million for overseas scholarships and more than RM413 million for local scholarships.

“Students wanting scholarships must keep in mind that the competition is getting tougher, because there are a lot more brilliant students than there are scholarships the government can offer.”

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repeat call for religious education in tamil school

March 23rd, 2009
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If those people who are familiar with MIC care to recall proposals/memorandums and resolutions made in the last 20 years, they’ll find that nothing much has changed. One can, to a certain extent, understand that because even the president has been around for 30 odd years. One can’t expect miracles.

Never mind that only last September this topic cropped up. I guess many of the round-table discussions, seminars, meetings, getaways, committees in the last decade or so would have suggested this idea in one way or another. Maybe they feel its not worth the time to dig back the past research, reports, studies etc., so the solution is to conduct yet another research and submit a memorandum. Where have we heard these lines before? 🙂

So, here we go again. MIC Youth has sent “a letter” to Education Minister. The leader, Mohan said that they have to start somewhere. I think he meant re-start because most likely next year this idea will come up again.

The argument is simple. Having other religions being taught will make it look like its on par or same pedestal with the religion that is official religion of the federation. For those people, their religion must be the first and the only one. The rest is sidelined, because it says so in the constitution. Liberal (one-sided) interpretation is made on the status of religion of federation, thus we have discrimination (or in better words, less emphasis) on other religions. As long as “others” can practice their religion in limited conditions, due to their tolerance and good heart, the “others” should be eternally thankful and not question at all.

Come on, when even temple height can’t be taller than their mosque height, you want to bring Hinduism to school? Even if the Tamil school got one muslim student, there will be a religious teacher assigned for him/her. That is the extent of expenses and power of the liberal interpretation of “religion of federation”.

Try suggesting a inter-faith committee, or department of non-muslim religious affairs. Try asking for tax exemption for donations related to religion or to tamil schools. Try asking for 60/40 budget for religious purposes.

We can’t argue with these people who are insecure, depend on outdated laws, and who need to resort to threats/violence. Just look at the PERKASA meeting last weekend. We have a 1/4 Indian Muslim fighting for Malay rights and yet the message is clear –  “Keep quiet or else”.

We don’t have the quality and qualified people to teach Hinduism. We don’t have enough classrooms to even run proper classes. We don’t have proper facilities in schools.

All the above sounds very pessimistic, but that’s what I feel. Deep inside, I wish the idea will succeed, but knowing the reality, its just wishful thinking.

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC Youth has urged the Government to implement religious education in Tamil schools as a measure to overcome social ills in the Indian community.

MIC Youth coordinator T. Mohan said religious education would help steer youths away from damaging activities.

“It is saddening to see reports of Indians being involved in gangsterism and violent crimes in the newspapers of late. We believe these youths had not been given any religious education,” he told reporters after chairing the national council meeting here Monday.

Mohan said the wing had already submitted a letter to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein requesting religious education be introduced in Tamil schools.

“We are undertaking some research and will submit a memorandum to the ministry within four months,” he said.

Mohan said the results would not be seen overnight but he was sure of positive results within five years.

“We have to start somewhere to ensure that there is a future for our generation in the country,” he said.

Mohan said the wing would also have discussions with Indian-based non-governmental organisations to find ways of reducing the incidence of crime within the Indian community.

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Posted in Indian, Religion, Tamil-Schools

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At NAPEI Education Fair Mid Valley

March 15th, 2009
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Spent 3 hours at Mid Valley yesterday attending the NAPEI Education Fair together with nephew and niece. We were early as the fair opened its door at 11am only. Quite a lot of exhibitors were there – KLIUC, UTAR, Sri, Inti, SEGI, Kojadi, Baking Institute, HELP, APIIT, TAR College, UNITAR, MAHSA, Masterskill, Lim Kok Wing, Stamford, Taylor, KDU, AIMST, Dika, PTPL, IACT, One Academy, Saito, MUST, Nilai, among others, and  few agencies that deal with recruitment for medicine seats.

Saw quite a number of Indians in the fair. Many were interested in the usual colleges and the standard programmes – medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering.

Got a good explanation from  Head of Childhood Education of SEGI Subang Jaya. Lim Kok Wing staff also were quite friendly and explained well. Same goes for UNITAR, who were understaffed, but tried to answer questions from visitors.

Some of my views/findings:

– Early childhood education is a good field to explore. Among the colleges that offer a diploma/degree is SEGI, Unitar, Sri, Dika, and PTPL.

– Only UNISEL and UNITAR offer Bachelor of Education that is recognised by MOE. Meaning you can apply for government posting after graduating. The fees are quite OK too.

– I think Lim Kok Wing has among the highest fees for a standard degree program. Better to do a diploma and then continue with degree (year 4), but still its a 5 year study. Other colleges offer shorter period of 4 years for same path. Need to think twice (or more) before enroling here.

– APIIT seemed to have lots of foreigners at the booth. Maybe want to show their multi-national environment.

– TAR College remains a popular choice for many – affordable fees, recognised programs, employability OK. It had good crowd at the booth.

– If you have 10As and above, good chance of getting a scholarship in private uni/college. Can be exempted from tuition fees. At least will reduce burden of parents.

– For average students, there’s not many choice  – enrol for your intended program and apply for PTPTN. Your average results means scholarship is very, very hard. If you do well in the first and second semesters, then apply for scholarships the following year.

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Posted in I Was Here

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