March 27, 2006
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It’s a pity that despite the stated intentions of our Education Ministry to promote ‘world-class’
education, innovation and progress are not its best-known traits. For
instance, homeschoolers in the country have resigned to any headway in
discussing the merits of alternative education and seeking for
accommodation in the present national system. In fact we have stopped
pursuing dialogue. Compulsory education is the 800lb gorilla that is
being fed a diet of race and politics, rendering it unresponsive to
alternatives that challenge policies. So, how to talk?
Take
the issue of facilities for children with special needs. While the
government insists that children with special needs should be enrolled
in conventional schools, very, very few schools have trained/qualified
special needs teachers or facilities to be of any help. Some years ago,
one mother I know went from meeting to meetings with the Minister
himself seeking permission to enroll her autistic child in an
international school, only to be turned down – this inspite of
supporting medical reports and the fact that the international school
(generally closed to locals by law) had the necessary resources her
child needed.And
to this day, parents intending to homeschool have been rejected for no
reason but that it’s the law (how some parents resist official decree
is another story for another time). Yet, homeschoolers constantly make
the headlines, even here in Malaysia. The most recent being Yao-ban
Chan (see March 11 post) whose family, by the way, is no longer
resident in the country.Now we have math whiz Adi Putra, the seven-year old kid who fascinated everyone with his 12th
grade mathematical ability. His parents dutifully sent him to a
conventional school amidst great fanfare and pledges from the Education
Ministry who promised support in cash and kind – you know, the usual
platitudes. But he’s one sad unhappy kid.On Friday, papers reported that Adi had been cutting classes because he was bored. To his parents’ consternation, Adi has been threatened with expulsion.
The
parents of the seven-year-old boy have received show-cause letters from
his school, SK Jalan Matang Buluh in Bagan Serai, warning them that he
could be expelled for cutting classes too often.His
mother Serihana Elias, a former teacher, said her son was reluctant to
go to school because he was bored with the basic syllabus of reading,
writing and counting (mengira) laid down by the Education Ministry.Adi
Putra, who could read newspapers by the age of four, had told his
mother that he would prefer studying at a school like Sekolah Islam
Antarabangsa in Kuala Lumpur.What was the school thinking?
Anyway, there’s good news for Adi finally. Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin said yesterday:
“The ministry has organised some programmes for him but we are not
forcing anyone to do it. If his father wants him to change
schools, I have no problems with that. Just send in the application and
I will approve it.”That’s
commendable. It’s a concession that’s reluctantly made, apparently, if
you read what Perak Education Department director Mohammed Zakaria Mohd
Noor had to say (Adi comes from Perak). The department director was reported to have said they would have “preferred Adi Putra to complete his national primary school curriculum so that he could become a well-rounded individual.”
You know what they say about schools dumbing down on real education? It's true, and it's happening. Here.
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