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Showing posts with label Dong Zong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dong Zong. Show all posts

Thursday 29 March 2012

Angry with the Malaysian education system in a mess

Be civil even when angry

ALONG THE WATCHTOWER By M. VEERA PANDIYAN

The ‘325 Rally’ organised by Dong Zong was touted as a peaceful gathering but it turned into an ugly show of anger.



IF civil dialogue is the life blood of demo­cracy, the fits of rage seen at the “325 Rally” organised by the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) are indeed unfortunate.

What was touted as a peaceful gathering to highlight the serious shortage of Chinese vernacular school teachers turned into a show of anger, hardly reflective of the community’s cherished Confucian values.

Among the resolutions passed at the rally was a call to remove all newly-assigned non-Chinese-speaking teachers and those who did not have Chinese language qualifications – including Bahasa Malaysia and English teachers – from Chinese schools.

Dong Zong also wants teachers with the right qualifications, who had earlier been transferred out, to return to these schools.

The other demands include a review of the Education Act to ensure plurality in the country’s education policy, fair treatment for vernacular schools and safeguarding their existence and development.

The Chinese educationists also want the ministry to conduct training for teachers with Chinese language qualifications who had been teaching Malay and English at Chinese primary schools for at least three years.

But of course, the resolutions have now been obscured by the verbal abuse and near-assault of Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.

Although the deputy minister has been accused of “gate crashing” the event, the organisers of the rally had indeed issued an open invitation to him to attend.

Through advertisements in the Chinese newspapers, they had also listed 13 prohibitions for those coming to the rally – behaving violently or acting against the principles of peace, being abusive, provocation or making any indecent moves, carrying weapons and such.

But with the loss of almost all civility in our political discourse, we can only expect frenzied partisan views, especially in cyberspace where emotions are stoked daily into seething froth.

The reality is there are no quick fix solutions for the teacher shortage problem facing Chinese as well as Tamil schools.

Dong Zong president Yap Sin Tian said at the rally that the problem had remained unresolved for tens of decades, accusing the Govern­ment of having a lack of will to resolve it.

Here’s a sense of déjà vu. It’s been 25 years but nothing seems to have changed on the problems facing Chinese schools – except for the main players changing roles and shifting allegiances.

Just like the “325 Rally” in Kajang, a huge gathering took place at the Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur in 1987 to protest against the Education Ministry.

The Dong Zong is now said to be aligned with DAP and its Pakatan Rakyat allies of PKR and PAS but in 1987, Barisan Nasional’s Chinese-based parties – MCA and Gerakan – as well as DAP joined the Chinese educationists in calling for a boycott of the schools involved.

Guess who was the much-despised Education Minister accused of “deliberately” attempting to undermine the educational standards of Chinese schools? The fast-rising Umno leader then was none other than the current leader of Pakatan.

There is no denying that our education system is in a mess, no thanks to the flaws in implementation. We need to rectify the shortcomings both in national and vernacular schools as well as institutions of higher learning.

But not much can be done if sentiments are always tied to political posturing or show of power, with complete absence of civility in discussions.

Before the rally, discussions were already being held between Dong Zong, Jiaozong (the United Chinese School Teachers Association of Malaysia), Huazong (the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia), NUTP (the National Union of the Teaching Profession) and SJKC Headmasters Union and a special committee on shortage of teachers in Chinese schools, chaired by Dr Wee.

The deputy minister also announced eight long- and short-term measures to address the problem, including transferring out the non-qualified teachers, enabling Chinese school headmasters to hire temporary teachers and training of more teachers with Chinese qualification.

During his live interview over 98.8FM, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak confirmed that the steps had been accepted in principle by the Cabinet, and that the Government was serious about resolving the matter once and for all. But the assurances were snubbed by Dong Zong as “hasty and expedient attempts” to merely counteract the rally.

Now that the protest rally is over and the demands made, the right thing for Dong Zong to do is to go back to the discussion table. Civil discourse is the right path to take, no matter how angry one is.

> Associate Editor M. Veera Pandiyan likes these wise words of Confucious: The gentleman is calm and peaceful; the small man is always emotional. Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?

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Wednesday 28 March 2012

Angers to the deception of Malaysian Chinese education

Chinese education problems: Real solutions needed

Pauline Wong
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KAJANG (March 25, 2012): The anger and frustration of Chinese educationists and the community over the decades-old problems faced by Chinese schools boiled over today.

This was manifested in the treatment meted out to Deputy Education Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong when he attended a rally organised by the United Chinese School Committees Association (Dong Zong) here.

Wee was not only heckled and jeered by a rowdy crowd of over 7,000 people at the New Era College where the rally was held, but someone even managed to throw a punch at him as he was leaving the event.

Fortunately, due to the cordon of police personnel around him, the full force of the punch was deflected and Wee only suffered a glancing blow on his left cheek.

Despite the incident, Wee was seemingly calm when he spoke to reporters at a press conference later, saying he was saddened by the way the crowd had become emotional.

“While we do not expect cheers or applause from them (the crowd), the whole purpose of attending this rally is to listen to the people,” said Wee, who believed the crowd was made up of mostly opposition supporters.

Earlier, on his arrival about 11am, Wee had been met by a ‘hostile’ crowd and had to be protected by about 20 uniformed police and Rela personnel who formed a human wall around him.

Even after he had sat down, Wee was booed at every time the Education Ministry was mentioned in the speech by Dong Zong president president Yap Sin Tian who lashed out at the ministry for failing to solve the problems which have festered for over 40 years.

Among them, the lack of teachers in Chinese primary schools, which has been a sore point among its educationists for many years, made worse by the government placing non-Chinese speaking teachers as stop-gap measures.

Yap said as far back as 1968, the Education Ministry was on record in Parliament as admitting that Chinese schools faced a shortage of 1,172 teachers.

“This problem has never been resolved and remained the same for over 40 years. Over the years, many senior officials continue to say that the shortage would be resolved, but nothing has materialised,” he said.

“The Education Ministry today continues to say it needs to gather information about the problem before anything can be done, but the fact is, the ministry is in possession of the most up-to-date and complete information.

“Therefore, it can be concluded that the ministry does not intend to settle the problem, not because of the lack of ability, but the lack of will,” Yap said.

The rally later passed four resolutions presented by the Dong Zong standing committee.

They are, for the Education Ministry to :
  • immediately transfer out all teachers who do not have the required SPM Chinese language qualification from Chinese primary schools;
  • conduct special courses for Chinese language teachers who have taught Bahasa Malaysia or English for at least three years so that they are qualified to teach all three languages;
  • reform the teachers training syllabus so that more qualified Chinese-speaking teachers can be trained to fulfil needs of Chinese schools; and
  • review the Education Act to ensure vernacular schools are accorded equal status and safeguarded as an integral part of national education system.
Responding to Dong Zong’s demands, Wee said the ministry would continue to work towards resolving the issues raised.

However, he was evasive when pressed as to whether the government would give a commitment to resolve the problems or concede to the demands of the Dong Zong.

“We will most certainly take into consideration anything, listen to whatever grievances which we think are rational,” he said, adding that was why the cabinet had agreed to set up a special committee, which he chairs, to resolve the problem.

“The committee will get the cooperation of all stakeholders. Over the past month, we have engaged stakeholders to resolve this issue. We will study each of their resolutions and demands and consider it. We have come up with strategies,” he said.

When it was pointed out that Chinese educationists have been faced with this problem for over four decades and will not accept any more delays, Wee reiterated that the committee was formed to look into it immediately.

“Of course, we know this needs immediate attention. As far as government is concerned, we need to identify the root of the problem before we can solve anything.

“Transferring the non-Chinese speaking teachers out will not solve anything. There are integrated issues which have to be resolved and discussed as a whole, not piecemeal,” he added.

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