Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Fong Chan Onn should report to Parliament next week what action the Education Ministry has taken against the teacher who had used the word “pariah” in a Form Four history examination question in Sekolah Menengah Selayang.
During the Parliamentary debate on the 1996 supplementary estimates on the Ministry of Education on Wednesday, I had raised this issue and asked what action the Ministry of Education had taken against the teacher concerned for offending the sensitivities of the Indian community and a multi-racial society.
Furthermore, the question was also wrongly structured and not in accordance with the history curriculum. The question had asked students to indicate the colour that represents the pariah and harijan among the Indian community based on the strata of the caste system, when both are not among the four stratas of the caste system.
In my speech, I stressed that the government must ensure that teachers are more responsive and respectful of the sensitivities in a multi-racial society, asked whether the Education Ministry would suspend the teacher concerned and what action the government was taking to ensure that there would be no repetition of such an incident.
In his reply, the Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Fong Chan Onn said the Ministry would investigate the incident and would take the necessary actions.
He said: “Dari segi prinsip, memang adalah tujuan Kementerian Pendidikan untuk menentukan, bukan sahaja menentukan, untuk mengajarkan setiap anak-anak kita sensitif dan peka tentang perasaan masyarakat berbilang kaum di Malaysia kita ini. Dan kita telah memperkuatkan kandungan kurikulum kita supaya setiap pelajar yang keluar dari sistem persekolahan kita akan terus faham tentang sensitiviti setiap kaum di negara kita ini dan kalau ada guru yang tidak ikut, memang kita akan mengambil tindakan yang sewajarnya.”
When I asked why the Ministry of Education had not yet taken action against the teacher as the incident had been reported a week ago, Chan Onn replied:
“Oleh kerana Kementerian Pendidikan ada satu sistem di mana kita decentralize, jadi isu-isu yang dibangkitkan di sekolah-sekolah ini ada pegawai-pegawai di Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah dan juga pegawai-pegawai di Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri yang akan mengambil tindakan atau siasat dan mengambil tindakan.”
It was reported yesterday that the director-general of the Education Ministry, Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Wan Zahid Mohd. Noor has said that the Education Ministry was aware of the incident which had caused widespread dissatisfaction among Indian parents and community leaders and that the Ministry would investigate into the case.
Datuk Dr. Fong Chan Onn should give a report to Parliament next week on the outcome of the Education Ministry investigations.
(26/10/96)