April 29, 2007
Good showing raises Tamil school stock By : CHOK SUAT LING
The good facilities at SJK(T) Jalan Bangsar help attract students.
More Indian students from educated and middle-income families are making Tamil schools their choice, educationists tell CHOK SUAT LING
The good facilities at SJK(T) Jalan Bangsar help attract students.
HE owns a successful business, and drives a sleek, eye-catching, black Volvo. R. Ravindran could certainly afford to enrol his two children in a private school.
But he sent them instead to a Tamil school in Kajang.
Asked why he chose vernacular education, Ravindran shrugs: “Many Indian parents now are doing the same. Most of my children’s classmates are from urban, educated, middle-income backgrounds. “Indian parents want their children to learn their mother tongue and be educated in schools that are sensitive to their needs.”
Ravindran enrolled his older son in a national school for two years but transferred him out when he was 10 years old.
“The boy was uncomfortable with a few things, like the doa during the morning assembly.”
Historically linked to the Indian labour sector, the 523 Tamil schools in Malaysia today are widely perceived to have low student enrolment, and to be populated by those from lower-income backgrounds.
That observation is apparently no longer accurate.
Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Jalan Bangsar headmaster A. Janarthana notes that there has been a gradual increase in the number of students from “more affluent” backgrounds in his school over the past 10 years.
“These are the students from families with a monthly income of more than RM3,000. Their parents are educated and professionals like lawyers and doctors, or from the business world. There has been a 10 per cent increase of such students from last year, but it is still not as much as we want.”
Tamil schools appear to be gaining popularity. There are now schools in urban areas with between 1,000 and 2,000 students, an unheard of phenomenon in past decades.
The Tamil Foundation Malaysia (TFM), a non-profit organisation set up in 1990 to help Indian students through education, has the statistics.
TFM executive director Jiwi Kathaiah says in 2005, Tamil school enrolment numbered 98,579, but this year, there are already more than 100,000 students.
There are several factors driving Indian parents towards Tamil schools. Among them are academic excellence, cultural familiarity and belonging, and exposure to their mother tongue.
Kathaiah, who is also Tamil school educated, notes that despite the odds, the academic performance of students in Tamil schools has improved.
“Numerous studies and research favour mother tongue education,” says Kathaiah.
“According to Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), students taught to read in their mother tongue acquire academic learning skills more quickly.”
According to Education Ministry statistics, the percentage of passes for all subjects in the Primary School Assessment Test, or UPSR, among Tamil school students, has improved over the years.
For Mathematics, only 67 per cent passed in 1998, but that went up to 84.4 per cent in 2004. The most impressive gain was in Bahasa Malaysia (writing), from 32 per cent in 1998 to 56.3 per cent in 2004.
The number of high achievers has also gone up significantly. In 1999, 45 students scored the maximum 7As. Last year, 570 achieved that feat.
Kathaiah says this proves that the Tamil school system is no longer the “weakest link in the academic system”, as it was once described.
There are difficulties adjusting to the national school system at the secondary level but Tamil schools have taken steps to cushion the initial language and culture shock experienced by students.
Many schools organise motivational sessions for Year Six pupils who have completed their UPSR.
Another reason why more Indian parents are turning to Tamil schools is the perceived Islamisation of national schools.
Janarthana observes that Indian students can identify better with the values imparted in Tamil schools, as they are the same as those at home:
“When they are comfortable with their environment, they feel liberated and can study better.”
Yayasan Strategik Sosial executive director Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria notes a sociological trend among fourth or fifth generation migrant communities to return to their roots
“It is a global phenomenon with no adverse effects,” Jayasooria says.
The fact that Science and Mathematics is now taught in English is another pull factor.
“Indian parents feel their children can get the best of everything in Tamil schools — they have Tamil language as a subject, besides Bahasa Melayu and English, and both Science and Mathematics is in English.
“And on top of it, they are in an environment which adheres to their culture, ethos, history and identity,” he adds.
The Education Ministry is aware of the increase in enrolment in Tamil schools.
“We have statistics of the rise in student numbers. But it is not viewed as a threat to national schools. It will not in any way affect our drive to make national schools the school of choice,” says an official.
He points out that the ministry has taken many steps to make national schools more attractive, including offering Tamil and Chinese language on a wider scale in national schools soon.
TFM president Manoharan Marimuthu agrees Tamil schools are neither a threat to national schools nor work against national integration.
“The two education streams actually complement the other. As for racial polarisation, the gulf among the races now is not a product of the vernacular school system. There are other factors at play.
“In fact, the existence of a parallel system which supports another language and culture is testament of our country’s unique diversity,” says Manoharan.
The government should, therefore, recognise the progress made in the Tamil school system and respect and support it, he argues, and Tamil schools should not continue to be treated like “stepchildren”.
“While the support of parents has helped uplift some schools, many remain in a sad state of neglect.”
Jayasooria agrees it is important to recognise the strength of Tamil schools, and fill in the gaps where there are weaknesses to ensure a level playing field.
He, too, insists there is no conclusive evidence to show that vernacular schools contribute towards problematic ethnic relations.
In fact, he says: “Immediate steps should be taken to convert all partially-assisted Tamil schools into fully government-aided ones.”
Another strategy to improve the condition of Tamil schools is to encourage parents from middle and upper socio-economic levels to send their children to Tamil schools in force, then demand and ensure that proper facilities are provided.
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam points out that one Tamil school, SJK (Tamil) Simpang Lima, Klang, has been named a cluster school: “Parents should send their children there and to other Tamil schools.”
Jayasooria is confident this will happen.
“The people’s consciousness of their identity has increased. And this should be recognised as a positive development, not a problem.”
Ratha Mathivanan