BY: CHRISTOPHER FERNANDEZ

Fourteen-year-old Wai Ling, a Malaysian schoolgirl, alighted from her school bus and ran into her house and plopped onto the couch in the hall and flung her satchel and burst into tears to the curiosity of her wide-eyed mother and dog, Butkus.

Fearing something terribly wrong, Mrs. Lim ran to her side and consoled Wai Ling while questioning what caused this outburst and why she was wailing, being beside herself, and sobbing inconsolably, as the mother tried to calm and placate her daughter.

In between sobs, Wai Ling confessed she was uncomfortable learning subjects taught in the Malay language as it was alien to her and though she tried hard and applied herself diligently she was weak and faring badly in these subjects in school.

Mrs. Lim soothed her and suggested that Wai Ling undertake home tuition by a competent teacher to help her master the Malay language and this caused her to pipe down though she told her mother that she was quite unsure if this would be of any real help.

The battle for language supremacy

If Malaysians, or anyone else, consider carefully and seriously the predicament of Wai Ling, the truth of the matter is that there are many other students, especially Chinese and Indians, who struggle not only with the Malay Language but also the English language.

This is because Malay is not the mother tongue of Chinese and Indians and Malay students fight shy of learning English as they feel embarrassed “aping” the language of the colonialists which they feel is like a betrayal to their language Malay.

Besides this, complicating and confusing the language conundrum is the fact that vernacular schools like Chinese and Tamil schools place a premium on Mandarin and Tamil respectively which poses a multi lingual challenge to students so young.

While the Malay language is respected and recognized as the national language, its use is limited to this country and around regional countries but English in this era of globalization has been recognized as an international language and a passport to the world.

Other ills of the Malaysian education system

If the battle for language supremacy has become ferocious, educationists, teachers and parent groups are calling for the cessation of the politicization of the education system which is the root cause of why there is disarray in nurseries, pre-schools, primary and secondary schools and colleges and universities.

From nurseries to tertiary institutions in this country the specter of politics rears its head causing turmoil, confusion and aggravation to Malaysian students that there is a general perception that it has turned sour the dream of many for a sound education.

Students at all levels of study are in a flux as the unfolding politics causes them to be unsure of what to expect next in the education sector owing to the many twists and turns and ploys being played by those who hold office in the ministry

While higher officials and superiors give instructions, it is usually the Little Napoleons down the pecking order who dictate terms and conditions and therefore somewhere down the line things go awry and the victims who bear the brunt are hapless students.

A deteriorating education system

The legacy of the British in Malaya was to leave us with a sound and workable education system that caused us to be a respected nation after Merdeka and for a number of decades until there emerged the tinkering by politicians in the education system.

Why tinker with a success story? Malaysia’s education quality was on par with most other countries around the world and there really was no need to change anything but to suit the agenda of a number of politicians the rot began to set into the education system.

Over the years, it has become bad to worse, and if nothing is done by the powers that be, the deterioration and disarray is set to witness our schools, colleges and universities producing misfits in society or educated derelicts.

The dysfunctionality and the many ‘kepala tak betul’ types or those whose head are not on their shoulders or plagued with mental health issues has not only become noticeable but a cause for concern all over the country.

Stakeholders should have a meeting of minds

All stakeholders in the arena of education must be allowed to gather and meet to discuss and debate and brainstorm issues related to the education sector and there must be forums and working papers and proposals presented for the government to consider.

This input will go a long way as, upon agreement, a consensual decision is made on how to take education forward for all and for there to be a higher and better quality and standard of education in the country.

The writing is on the wall, as in international exams, Malaysian students fare badly and are not up to the mark even with students around the ASEAN region and this is really a crying shame compared to how it was in the past when the education system in Malaysia was superior.

Those who are considered stakeholders like educationists, teachers, parent groups, students government officials and those in the ministry of education have to come to an agreement to salvage whatever vestiges left of a corrupt and failed education system.

Eyeing the future with hope

Dare Malaysians dream that the education system, which is at present deteriorating and in disarray, be streamlined and order brought out of chaos and confusion that there might emerge a right, proper and sound education system?

The onus of responsibility lies with the government of the day to muster the political will to transform, reform, revamp and overhaul completely the full spectrum of the education sector in this country for the benefit of all Malaysians.

Right now, what is obvious and evident is that there is only a semblance of an education system in this country and this sort of system is really like a house of cards on shifting sand and it is envisaged that it will take hard work and endurance by stakeholders to restore normalcy.

This is not only a great challenge for all stakeholders but also a grave challenge as it hinges on how the future generation would cope and have the capacity to take Malaysia to the next level and turn it into a Great Nation.

Christopher Fernandez has been teaching and writing throughout Asia since 1984

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher