— Justin Santiago
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 08, 2012

JULY 8 — When I was very young I remember looking at a set of pictures of post World War 2 America. The picture that struck me most was a water cooler with two taps on either side. The one on the left said Blacks Only and the one on the other side said Whites Only.

To many parents in Malaysia that picture still exists when their children choose to go for government subsidised pre university education. The non Bumiputeras will be shunted to the left to take the Form Six route and the Bumiputeras will be shunted to right to take the Matriculation route.

From the statement made by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin there appears to be a difference between the two. There was a perception that matriculation courses were far better than Form Six and that Form Six was viewed as a last resort for getting into tertiary education.

A plan is being put into place to boost the image and perception of Form Six. A “rebranding” exercise would be carried out to boost the perception of Form Six. The syllabus and structure will be revamped. Logistical aspects of centralizing students and strong support systems would be looked into. Students would no longer have to wear the school uniform.

Public policies on education in Malaysia appear to segregate rather than bring Malaysians together. The vernacular education system already divides students into Malay, Chinese and Tamil streams. Now segregation is being fine tuned and tweaked at pre University level. The policies seem to be engineered to keep young minds apart.

A much simpler solution would be to integrate the Form Six and Matriculation systems into one. All Malaysians should study together and to take the same entrance examinations and qualify for university. Why not open up the superior Matriculation system to all Malaysians regardless of racial or religious background? If the Matriculation system was so superior why not offer it to everybody?

What is so wrong with that?

Policies on education should focus on being more inclusive and to allow for greater diversity. A mixture of cultures can produce creative thinking and innovations.

On one hand you have the 1Malaysia slogan but on the other hand the many races of Malaysia can’t enjoy the same standard of education and learn and grow together. This is the reason why the people don’t believe the government anymore.

We need more than just a revamp of the Form Six system. We need a revamp of the way public policies are formulated and implemented. We can’t be drinking from the same water cooler with two separate taps anymore.