Of National Schools (Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua) and Vernacular schools

Of National Schools (Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua) and Vernacular schools.....

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"Vernacular schools not promised in the Constitution, but..."

Yes the vernacular schools are not protected by the Pelembagaan that is confirmed only the learning of a citizen's mother tongue is protected. Read more: 

Was Mark Koding found guilty of sedition for advocating closure of Tamil and Chinese Schools? Not!

While I am not in favor of the vernacular system nor the religious schools nor the international schools, as to my thinking they do not provide an atmosphere where our young can mix and learn together rather it segregates us voluntarily to be citizens apart. I do think however that it is important to stress quality of education in the National Schools.

Malaysian story needs to be rewritten, says Dr Mahathir
JUNE 19, 2013

There is a need to rewrite Malaysian history books to include problems faced in the past and steps taken by the government to solve such issues, so as to offer a better understanding of the country's history to the younger generation.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this move would also help Malaysia to establish a more educated society, and "thus create more vocal leaders."

It will also help unite Malaysians, create a rounded education for the young, he said in his keynote address titled Better Times Ahead for Malaysian Politics, Post General Elecetion-13 at the Perdana Leadership Foundation CEO Forum in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

"We need to do a lot of things. We should also learn from the history of other countries such as why the Arab Spring occurred.

"Then we ask ourselves, do we want this to happen in this country? "There are some people who literally say they want to see an Arab Spring in Malaysia. They prefer to ignore stability, peace and overthrow the leaders.

"Therefore, we need to settle down and understand what democracy is and tell them to trust the government," he added.

Touching on education, Dr Mahathir suggested that having a national school under one roof for all races, can keep Malaysia peaceful, united and will help build a better future for its citizens.

"The problem we face today is that we do not come together, and barely speak or use the national language. We should use it more (national language).

"We should have less segregation in schools for example, and make it compulsory to use and learn the national language," he said.

"Going to the same school increases the chances of togetherness. I'm the product of this kind of school," he said.

On learning the national language, Dr Mahathir was curious as some foreign diplomats who worked in other countries like Indonesia could master the language of that particular country, but not in Malaysia.

He said it was because Malaysians themselves communicated in English and not in their national language, and thus forgetting that language was one of the factors that unifies society. - Bernama, June 19, 2013.

Since the Gomen is adamant  to keep the vernacular schools so be it, these schools will be breeding grounds of present and next haters of the BN Gomen. In PRU12 and 13 the MCA, Gerakan and MIC has been virtually wiped out of the political map by these haters, just surviving on scraps of the Malay votes that UMNO gave for life support. The vernacular schools will be the death of BN.

I am really interested to have the National SJK schools be augmented by reviving the Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik Dalam Bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI) (the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English).

Wiki:

"According to the statement regarding PPSMI in the Ministry of Education's website:^[2]

The rationale for the decision to change the medium of instruction from the Malay Language to English for the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics subjects was made based on the government’s concern on the nation’s human capital development towards achieving the standard of a developed country, as well as an early preparation to compete in the era of globalization.

It is widely known that the field of science and mathematics form the basis and have a crucial role in the progress and development of a country. Various innovations and discoveries in these two fields happen rapidly and information access is mostly in the English language.

English language is also the language spoken internationally and mastery in this language would allow easy access to information in these fields.

In conclusion, the policy decision to implement PPSMI was made to ensure students’ mastery in science and mathematics in view of the fact that most of the sources are available in the English language. Indirectly, it is also hoped that the implementation of PPSMI would contribute to the enhancing of students’ command of the language.

When proposing the policy, Tun Dr. Mahathir was in the opinion that Malaysia's progress is declining in the age of globalization, and he had hoped that this policy gives a competitive edge to the nation, following the footsteps of Singapore and India which are moving forward because of their utilization of the English language."

With the National schools strengthened by PPSMI, and our National Language BM used to learn Sejarah, Perlembagaan, Geografi etc.  our SJKs will be more attractive to ALL Malaysian parents, lets face it ALL parents Malays,Chinese, Indian, Dayaks etc will want the best in their children education. The vernacular schools will become a remnant of our English colonial past if the SJKs can provide great and quality education for our young. The best Bonus is we would finally have our young mix together from young in an atmosphere free of distrusts of each other.