Higher Enrolments Chinese Schools Becoming Increasingly Relevant To Malays

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If an alien spaceship dropped out of the sky and sucked up all the Arabs into outer space - will the world miss the Arabs? I dont think so. The Middle East will become a more peaceful place. I have said this before. Meaning the Arabs are not relevant to the rest of the world. The Arabs are not relevant to their neighbours.  The Arabs are not even relevant to each other. 

Please read this. This is also about being relevant.

This is taken from World of Buzz here.




Chinese Schools specifically for Chinese to learn mother tongue, culture
now SJKC becoming favourite choice among Malays, Indians
SJKC Sin Min, Alor Gajah  has more Malays than Chinese 
school has 55 students, only 9 are Chinese

2019 - school will have 44 Malays, 2 Indians 
For Std 1,  only one Chinese student compared to 12 Malays
decrease of Chinese started 10 years ago 
Chinese slowly migrated to Masjid Tanah 
11 teachers,  majority students are Malays

no Chinese students at all in Std Five next year

Parents say great opportunity for children to study in Chinese School (SJKC) 
their children can master Mandarin language which is vital for their future

My comments : Those Malay parents are making a very wise decision that will benefit their children tremendously.

In Sin Min Alor Gajah, there are 11 teachers to 55 students. That is a teacher to student ratio of 1 : 5 which is much better than Finland.  These students are going to be very fortunate indeed. The teachers will be able to give them more personalised attention.

Chinese schools are among the best performing schools in the country. Chinese schools are Number 2 in science and mathematics (primary school level) behind Tamil schools (who are No. 1 thanks to people like Dr Yunus Yasin). 

But on the whole Chinese schools are churning out graduates who seem to serve the Chinese community (and the whole nation) much better.  Chinese schools also teach their kids other things like strict discipline, hard work (through heavy work loads) and commitment.  

The Chinese school of today is a very, very far cry from the gang infested Chinese schools of my time.

During my days in school the Chinese schools suffered very poor enrolment. Chinese parents preferred to send their children to the government schools because the medium of instruction was in English.  At that time our government schools were the same as or better than the Singapore or British schools. 

Then when the fatal mistakes began - with the Razak Report which advocated Malay as the main medium of instruction - culminating in the wholesale switch to Malay in the 1970s and then the Islamisation of the education system by Brader Anwar Ibrahim in the 1980s, the Chinese panicked and started pulling out their kids from the government schools.

The Chinese community began investing heavily in the Chinese schools  and the enrolment in Chinese schools shot up.  In tandem with this much higher enrolment, the Chinese people began improving the quality of their teachers and their teaching techniques in the Chinese schools. 

Today the standard of English in many Chinese schools (especially in KL) is higher than in the sekolah kebangsaan. This was not the case in the 1960s where English was considered the language of the white colonialists.

The most important factor in the success of Chinese schools is the quality of the teachers. Teacher performance (especially the Headmaster's performance)  is watched very closely by the school management.   When the students do not perform as well, the teachers are held accountable. They can also lose their positions. 

I have said this before that Chinese kindergarten teachers now have Masters degrees in child education.  Some of these kindergarten teachers who graduated from China were examined by up to 10 supervisors before they could earn their Master's degrees. 

I learned this from my lawyer wife who also has a Masters degree in Early Child Education.

Hence all children, especially Malay children, who attend SJKC or Chinese schools will benefit from all these higher standards imposed on the Chinese teachers, stricter regulation and monitoring of the Chinese school's performance (which is lacking in the sekolah kebangsaan).

The final point to note is that children get to learn Mandarin.  English will still dominate but considering that China has officially passed the United States as the world's No 1 economic super power - and soon the No 1 military super power as well - knowing how to speak Mandarin is going to be a fantastic advantage.

What about Malay?  Malay folks please ponder this very carefully. Will Malay become the language of economics, business and most importantly of science? 

The quickest  answer is NO.  

Do you want proof ?  Look around you. After 40 years of switching almost fully from English to Malay what do we have? 

BR1M, Gaji Minima, unemployed graduates, unemployable graduates, 70,000 Malay students enrolled in Chinese schools (and increasing),  jurang perbezaan ekonomi increasing, or not decreasing.  Religious extremism, religious radicalisation, religious dungguism, RUU 355, and all sorts of useless achievements. Yes it is tied to the language as well. It is not yet fully developed to be able to convey complex arguments.  It will happen I guess but some day in the future.  Language is the bejana or the vessel by which any race or group can elevate or de-elevate itself.  

More important is time. We dont have the luxury of time to "jom kita try sekali lagi" for another 40 years.  You are gambling with your future. And the future of this country.  

Remember - do not gamble. 
Do not bet on horses. 
But you must know how to pick winning horses.Posted by Syed Akbar Ali 

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