Aarvidi’s Weblog

The Malaysians are grateful to MIC Puteri Chief J.Usha Nandhini and Datuk Daljit Singh Dalliwal. the Federal Territorry MIC exco member, in helping the people understand what Samy Vellu really said the other day. If not for these two good people, what misconceptions creep up our minds, at one stage imagining Samy Vellu may be slightly confused bringing matters pertaining to Malaysia to outside countries to find a solution.

But at the same time these two good people are causing confusion in other matters; the getting help episode having been explained. Usha says Samy is speaking from a different platform, now of not a Cabinet man, a man who is unwittingly made to look after the interests of 600,OOO MIC members and 1.7 million Indians. So, after the change of platform from the Cabinet to just a President of MIC has the duties of Sam increased. I guess so, because Usha tells us as a Cabinet man Samy did not care for the 6OO,OOO/1.7 million people.  I am sure Usha will be back with another statement to clarify this.

Daljit is much more clear. The help referred to is for education and business opportunities. I am sure Najib will be more than satisfied because he himself wanted Samy to explain what was meant by help from outside the country. Of course it took some time to come out with a convincing repartee, one that will go down as a witty and skilled representation. Daljit should be around when Samy makes his statements for Daljit to digest it over time, before feeding it to the layman in a way he understands mundane matters. Nothing big, but simple things an ordinary man could grasp.

Both make good mouth-pieces. 

By Suganthi Suparmaniam

MIC Puteri chief J. Usha Nandhini says Samy Vellu’s statement must not be taken negatively

2008/04/27

KUALA LUMPUR: There was mixed reaction to MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu’s statement that he would seek support from other countries if the government continues to ignore the Indian community. MIC Puteri chief J. Usha Nandhini said the statement must not be taken negatively as Samy Vellu had spoken as a guardian of Indians in the country.
"I don’t think it’s a threat. Previously, he spoke as a cabinet minister, now he is speaking at a different platform. He has to speak for the 600,000 MIC members and the 1.7 million Indians in the country," she said.
"As the party president and former senior cabinet minister, for him to say this shows that the government has to be fast in implementing whatever policies that it has promised."
She said gone were the days when people were satisfied with mere promises. They now wanted to see how soon a promise could be delivered.
Usha said Barisan Nasional had always looked after the Indians, but sometimes it failed to look at some of the issues affecting them.
Among their concerns were admission for critical courses in universities, the number of Indians in the civil service and whether the government was doing enough for them.
Federal Territory MIC exco member Datuk Daljit Singh Dalliwal said what the MIC president meant was to get education and business support from foreign countries.
"There is no harm in getting help in terms of economic improvement or to get education for people who have the qualifications," he said.
Daljit said today’s Indians had left the plantations and were now living in cities where they were looking for businesses to improve themselves.
The government, he said, had not done enough for Indians.
"I would not say that the Indians were 100 per cent neglected, but there was some neglect, especially in the quota system.
MIC central working committee member S. Murugesan said Indians just wanted to be treated equally and that BN had got it right at the policy level, but the problem was in the implementation.
"Indians want equal opportunities in government programmes, scholarships, job opportunities in business and in the government sector.
"They also have problems in getting loans for small- and medium-scale enterprises."

‘MIC president was not making a threat’

I am surprised that this silly notion non-Malays don’t apply to become teachers is taken as gospel truth. There are many aspirants to follow teaching as their profession among the Chinese and Indians, but unfortunately the system only caters for Malay applicants and the stock excuse is that we do not have enough Chinese and Tamil applicants. This is further from the truth. Teachers are a respected community, in whatever race and given the opportunity most will join up. This does not happen because of restrictions.

Lots of girls want to be teachers and it could be the maternal instinct of caring for children that makes it possible for them to be inclined towards being a teacher to teach students. We can see it at our homes, the mother is better equipped to teach the child with the homework and so forth, and generally fathers leave this chore to the mother. During my time females outnumbered males in the teaching profession and if the government is fair in its recruitment policies the imbalance in racial composition of teachers can be overcome.

A mixed quota of races in the teaching profession will improve the quality of teaching and the students will benefit a lot. Mediocrity in education will then be a thing of the past - every student striving to be the best.  

Sunday, 27 April 2008 09:44am

One way to encourage more non-Malays to become teachers is for the Education Ministry to hold career talks in schools.

©New Sunday Times (Used by permission)
by Chok Suat Ling

The lack of non-Malay teachers will put a dent in the government’s goal to make national schools attractive to everyone, writes Chok Suat Ling.

MAULIDUR Rasul celebrations are a hugely anticipated event in schools. Muslim students are told to dress up in their best baju Melayu and baju kurung for the festivities, which are held after the national-level celebrations.
Indeed, having such events in schools is a learning experience for students. But as some parents have said, especially when the government is striving to "memperkasakan sekolah kebangsaan" or make national schools attractive to all Malaysians, similar attention should be paid to the festivities of other races.

According to some school heads, it is not that the schools refuse to hold such events; many just lack the know-how to plan them.
The majority of teachers in national schools are Malay, they say. And organising Pesta Tanglung or Ponggal-related events are not within their field of expertise, or high on their list of priorities.

A headmistress of a well-known Kuala Lumpur school says there are many ways to attract students of all races to national schools.
"The most crucial is to ensure academic excellence. Parents will send their children to schools with good public examination results."
But parents contend that the school environment should also welcome non-Malays.
The headmistress says she has appealed to the parent-teacher association (PTA) to organise multicultural events.
"Parents have brought up this issue during PTA meetings and I agree that children should be exposed to other cultures. However, it will have to be up to the PTA to plan, and for parents, especially, to take a lead role in organising them."
While the effort is laudable, putting the onus on parents is not. The school is divesting itself of its burden to parents.
It remains, therefore, that what’s best for the education system is a higher percentage of non-Malay teachers in national schools.
There has been concern that national schools do not reflect the character and spirit of multi-racial Malaysia. Consequently, the need to increase the number of non-Malay teachers and school heads is imperative, as is the need to get them to be more aware and responsive to multi-racial needs and sensitivities.
Former headmaster and ex-unionist Shahul Hamid Mydin Shah has said that the government needs to look at the composition of teachers as more than 90 per cent are Malay. It is also difficult, in a random check, to find more than 10 per cent of schools having non-Malay headmasters or deputy heads.
"There was a good racial mix of teachers, even in missionary schools, in the past," Shahul Hamid says.
According to Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, the response among the Chinese remains poor.
He says the ministry had hoped to enrol 770 Chinese graduates for the 2008 post-degree teacher-training course or Kursus Perguruan Lepas Ijazah (KPLI) intake but received only about 600 applications, of which 400 were successful.
He says 6.7 per cent or 7,288 of the 108,394 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia school-leavers who applied for this year’s intake for the teachers’ training course are Chinese.
Several reasons have been given for the poor response.
It is said that teaching occupies a much lower rung of respectability compared with before and is not viewed as a profession of choice for various reasons: heavy workload, overbearing parents, lack of promotion prospects and being posted to remote areas.
According to retired teacher Chor Kam Fook, teaching was a respected profession in the past and it was considered an honour to be part of it.
"Until now, my former students, now adults with children, call me ’sir’ when they see me," says Chor, who had wanted to be a teacher from when he was in school.
His wife is also a retired teacher. "She was persuaded by her grandmother who told her it is a good profession with many perks and long holidays."
But this mindset is apparently no longer shared by the current generation.
What is needed is a concerted push to recruit more non-Malay teachers. Better wages, perks and terms of service would be a significant pull factor, experts say.
Educators have long called for the establishment of a teachers commission, an independent body for teachers not unlike the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, or Suhakam.
With a commission to look after its welfare, the teaching profession could be separated from the civil service and put on a different salary scheme. A memorandum with this proposal was submitted to the Education Ministry in 2004.
Former headmaster and unionist Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam says: "The profession is huge and separating it from the civil service makes sense. Teachers have been urging for this for a long time as they feel their benefits do not match their efforts and contribution."
He says other civil servants can switch off from work when they leave the office, but not teachers.
"Classes might finish around noon but that does not spell the end of the day for teachers. They have other activities to attend to."
One other way to encourage more non-Malays to become teachers is for the ministry to hold career talks in schools.
"They have to tell schoolchildren about the profession, what teachers are required and expected to do and their role. This is carried out in some countries to encourage the young to consider teaching as a profession," Siva Subramaniam says.
Some, however, doubt the veracity of claims that non-Malays are disdainful of joining the teaching profession. It is argued that the situation is not as severe as perceived.
According to one teacher, "thousands" of young Chinese applied for the KPLI but failed to secure a place.
"They are keen but not given the opportunity. Only a small percentage got in. This has given rise to suspicions of a quota being imposed, that the numbers taken in are controlled. Dr Wee should interview these young people and find out the true picture," she says.
Siva Subramaniam says many non-Malays are interested but fail to secure places.
"To be fair, things have improved for teachers in terms of salary, promotions and others in the last decade, and there are more non-Malays interested in joining now. They submit their applications but are not even called up to sit the entrance test."
He urges the ministry to look into this. "Perhaps the information it is getting is not reflective of what is happening on the ground."

The Malaysian Bar - Opinion: A missing ingredient in national schools