Posts Tagged ‘Vision School’

Bayan Baru MP speech on single school system

October 19th, 2011
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There was some brouhaha about MP for Bayan Baru asking to close down vernacular schools as per his speech in the Dewan Rakyat last week. He clarified yesterday that his speech was misunderstood.
I dug out excerpt of his speech (along with Q & A with 2 other MPs) from the Hansard as per below. He did not pinpoint vernacular schools only for closure, but also the religious schools.  And Namewee was used as an example of how far a person can be removed from multi-cultural society due to education. I still remember an academcian friend from a Chinese school background who didn’t know what was Deepavali! However, to blame it pure on school is not correct because the rest of the time, the children are free to mingle around with/learn about others through activities like tuition, open houses,  TV shows, and so on.
Having said that, I don’t think just because the guy studied in Chinese medium institutions, he is rude. Plenty of so-called religious people who went to national schools can also be foul-mouthed, rude and violent.  People who go overseas to study in Western countries, also can behave the same. Doesn’t mean much.
And I guess he forgot the private and international schools that allow locals to enrol. Should also be banned, if follow this logic. Doesn’t mean if you have money you can escape the rules right?
He also mentioned Vision Schools (Sekolah Wawasan). Need to do an independent audit to see how each school was treated in terms of rules and regulation, facilities, funds, priorities etc.
His conclusion is that should have singular secular school system.  Good suggestion, if ample allocation (time/venue/teacher/funds) is given for each student to also learn about own culture along with other people’s culture.
… Sama seperti undang-undang peninggalan penjajah yang sewajarnya dimansuhkan untuk kita melangkah ke hadapan sejajar dengan dasar transformasi negara, sistem persekolahan peninggalan penjajah juga harus kita mansuhkan secara serta-merta. Saya mencadangkan di Dewan yang mulia ini agar kerajaan berpendirian tegas dalam isu ini, setegas pendirian untuk menghapuskan ISA dan memperkenalkan sistem satu sekolah untuk semua. Mungkin pihak kementerian boleh memperkenalkan kembali Sekolah Wawasan yang dahulunya ditolak bulat-bulat puak ekstremis tetapi pada asasnya sistem sekolah pelbagai aliran bahasa berdasarkan sesuatu bangsa harus dihapuskan dari bumi Malaysia kita.
Salah satu punca kelahiran individu yang biadab lagi kurang ajar seperti Namewee ialah pendidikan awal yang sungguh rasis dan terasing dari dunia sebenar bumi Malaysia. Malaysia bukan negara China, Malaysia bukan negara India dan Malaysia bukan juga negara Arab. Malaysia kita adalah satu negara majmuk dan seharusnya sistem pendidikan kita diolah kembali. Transformasi sistem persekolahan atau pendidikan peringkat sekolah rendah dan menengah adalah suatu yang kini pincang kerana sistem peninggalan penjajah telah menyebabkan kemunculan generasi yang sungguh rasis dan hanya memikirkan kepentingan kaum masingmasing. Saya pasti Namewee tidak akan bertindak sebegitu liar dan memaki hamun seorang wanita dalam klip video terbarunya jika beliau diasuh secara betul dalam persekitaran yang majmuk. Sebenarnya saya kesian melihat Namewee kerana walaupun mungkin berbakat, perwatakan beliau amat hina dan jijik.
Tuan Yang di-Pertua, rancangan penambahan hampir 15,000…
Dato’ Zulkifli bin Noordin [Kulim Bandar Baharu]: Yang Berhormat Bayan Baru.
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Dr. Wan Junaidi bin  Tuanku Jaafar]: Yang Berhormat, masa sudah habis Yang Berhormat.
Dato’ Zulkifli bin Noordin [Kulim Bandar Baharu]: Seminit sahaja Tuan Yang diPertua. Sekejap sahaja. Saya cuma hendak tanya pandangan berkenaan dengan isu Namewee tadi. Saya lihat daripada sejarah pendidikan beliau ini, dia ini bersekolah daripada kecil di sekolah aliran Cina – Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina  Chung Hwa,  Chung Hwa High School, sampai ke universiti pun  Ming Chuan University, Taiwan. Jadi adakah ada yang tidak kena dengan sistem pembelajaran di sekolah-sekolah ini ataupun dia itu sendiri sebagai individu yang memang dilahirkan untuk biadab?
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Dr. Wan Junaidi bin  Tuanku Jaafar]: Yang Berhormat Bayan Baru, jam sudah pukul satu, Yang Berhormat. Jawab tengah hari nantilah. Terima kasih Yang Berhormat.  Ahli-ahli Yang Berhormat, Mesyuarat ditangguhkan dahulu hingga 2.30 petang nanti. Terima kasih.
Mesyuarat ditempohkan pada pukul 1.00 petang.
Mesyuarat disambung semula pada pukul 2.30 petang.
 [Tuan Yang di-Pertua mempengerusikan Mesyuarat]
2.32 ptg.
Tuan Yang di-Pertua: Sila, Yang Berhormat Bayan Baru.
Dato’ Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim [Bayan Baru]:  Terima kasih Tuan Yang diPertua. Sebelum saya meneruskan ucapan, saya ingin  menjawab apa yang telah dibawa oleh Yang Berhormat Kulim Bandar Baharu tadi sebelum saya akhir ucapan sebelah pagi. Isu sekolah-sekolah yang kita terima dari zaman penjajah dulu.  Kita sedar bahawa sekolah-sekolah sekarang ini sekolah aliran Cina, aliran Tamil, aliran agama tidak sepatutnya dijalankan lagi sebab penjajah tinggalkan kita satu sistem yang isu dia divide and rule. Dia memecahbelahkan kita. Akan tetapi, kalau kita masih hendak teruskan bermakna ia akan melahirkan mereka yang pemikiran ekstremis.
Saya sebut Namewee tadi sebagai satu contoh. Akan tetapi kita boleh melihat bahawa ekstremis-ekstremis ini masih wujud. Yang pergi ke  sekolah aliran Cina tidak memahami kebudayaan Melayu, kebudayaan India begitu juga yang aliran India dan aliran agama pun sama.
Jadi oleh sebab itu, saya meminta kerajaan mengkaji semula dan kalau boleh merubah sistem pendidikan negara. Sistem kita sudah gagal sebab ekstremis sudah wujud. Orang macam Namewee boleh wujud, boleh hentam kromo kaum lain,  masyarakat yang tidak boleh diterima oleh beliau. Ini akan menjadi satu – akan menimbulkan satu keadaan bermasalah kepada kita. Saya hendak sambung Tuan Yang di-Pertua.
Datuk Ismail Kasim [Arau]: Sedikit.
Dato’ Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim [Bayan Baru]: Ada lagi.
Datuk Ismail Kasim [Arau]: Setengah minit. Terima kasih Tuan Yang di-Pertua yang dikasihi dan terima kasih Yang Berhormat Bayan Baru. Saya ingin bertanya pendapat Yang Berhormat, apabila kita melihat sistem vernakular yang diguna pakai di negara ini. Walaupun kita melihat ada unsur-unsur atau pun elemen yang dibangkitkan seperti Namewee Yang Berhormat timbulkan di dalam perbahasan. Cuma kita bernasib baik, kita tidak ada proses indoktrinasi seperti mana yang diamalkan oleh negara-negara lain di mana kita membenarkan sistem dalam bahasa ibunda masing-masing dapat berjalan. Tidak ada proses asimilasi ataupun indoktrinasi yang cuba dibuat oleh kerajaan. Adakah ini tidak mencukupi pada sebuah negara yang bernama Malaysia pada hari ini, itu pandangan Yang Berhormat Bayan Baru yang saya minta beri penjelasan. Terima kasih.
Dato’ Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim [Bayan Baru]: Terima kasih Yang Berhormat Arau. Saya tidak nafi mungkin niat dan pemikiran atau pun cara kerajaan fikir mungkin untuk kebaikan. Akan tetapi, kita lihat dari praktiknya kalau kita lihat sekolah-sekolah agama pun ada guru-guru yang mengajar anak muridnya tidak menggunakan  chopstick sebab itu haram. Chopstick orang Cina yang guna. Kita Melayu guna haram.  Begitu juga dengan minuman Cocacola,  makanan Mc’Donald. Jadi ini contoh yang saya beri. Di sekolah Cina orang macam Namewee wujud. Kalau kita lihat yang belah kanan ini pun ramai yang perangai macam itu pun ada ekstremis.
Jadi oleh sebab itu kita harus sedar dan kita tidak mahu masa depan anak cucu kita ini terlibat dalam pemikiran seperti ini. Kalau murid-murid mungkin kita cakap tentang bahasa sahaja di sekolah aliran Cina, India dan agama. Akan tetapi, pemikiran mereka kena ubah. Walaupun kerajaan berniat baik tetapi saya percaya yang sehabis baik ialah satu integrasi, buat satu sekolah sekular, kebangsaan di mana semua kaum boleh mengambil bahagian. Okeylah, saya teruskan sebab takut tidak cukup masa.

 

His lessons on racial integration will live on

March 27th, 2007
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His lessons on racial integration will live on 27 Mar 2007
SUBANG JAYA: Headmaster S. Subramaniam may have retired but he has left a valuable legacy to his teachers and students — racial integration.
The headmaster of SJK (T) Tun Sambanthan, one of the three schools that form the Vision School in USJ 15, here, was handpicked for the job.
And he has proved to be more than equal to the task.
Together with his colleagues from SK Dato Onn Jaafar and SJK (C) Tun Tan Cheng Lock, he has helped mould the students at the Vision School to be true Malaysians.
Today, this school is regarded by many as the most successful of the eight Vision Schools — conceptualised to promote racial integration.
Subramaniam, 56, was understandably sad to bid farewell.
“Thirty-six years have gone just like that. I am sad,” he said during a retirement party by the schools’ staff.
Subramaniam had spent a significant period of his teaching career in Tamil schools in the estates.
“I can still remember my first class. My legs were shaking. I was really nervous,” said the father of three.
Although many students feared his booming voice, his bark was definitely worse than his bite.
“He is quite fierce but he is also friendly and greets us when he sees us,” said R.Sharvnee, 11.
And what is his secret to winning the children’s hearts?
“Treat the students as if they are your own,” was his parting shot.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Tuesday/National/20070327074038/Article/local1_html

Picture of harmony at Vision School party

March 27th, 2007
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Picture of harmony at Vision School party 27 Mar 2007 Rina De Silva
SUBANG JAYA: The Vision School in USJ 15 here which houses a national school, a Tamil school and a Chinese school in one compound, was a picture of multiracial unity yesterday.
The three schools had gathered for a retirement party for S. Subramaniam, the headmaster of SJK (T) Tun Sambanthan.
The other two schools are SK Dato Onn Jaafar and SJK (C) Tun Tan Cheng Lock.
Teachers from the three schools helped organise the event while students from the national and Chinese schools also performed.
In a display of cross-cultural understanding, a Chinese school teacher had helped to choreograph a Tamil dance for the Chinese school students’ performance.
However, the pretty picture was not reflected off stage. Although a handful of students tried to strike up conversations with those from the other schools, most were contented to mingle with their own schoolmates.
Dhivvyaa Krishna Muthy, 11, said she liked talking to students from the other schools but had not established a close friendship with anyone.
“There is a Chinese girl I usually talk to at the canteen but I do not know her name,” she said.
Teacher P. Sivamalar said most students preferred to mix with their own classmates.
She said teachers from the three schools made an effort to set a good example by mingling and sitting with each other.
“During Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Deepavali, the three schools will work together on projects for the celebrations.”
SK Dato Onn Jaafar headmaster Kamarulzaman Zakaria, SJK (C) Tun Tan Cheng Lock headmaster Tan Hock Thiam and Subramaniam are the best of friends.
They will meet up for teh tarik at the school canteen and “argue” over school matters.
The three insist that the Vision School concept is working.
“It works because the students are not fighting,” said Subramaniam.
He believed the concept worked well in Subang Jaya as the community was more open to the idea of racial integration.
He warned that it may not work in other areas where one race formed the majority.
Tan said the students did not harbour any fear or mistrust of those not of their race.
Kamarulzaman said the concept enabled students of different races to spend time together.
It is during games, sports and festivals that racial integration takes place. The three schools will send their best players to form a team to compete against other schools.
Subramaniam said educationists from Britain, Canada, Africa and the Middle East had visited the school to see how it was run.
Vision Schools share common facilities, such as canteen and school halls, and interests, such as club activities and games. The objective is to promote racial integration.

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