Early childhood segregation fuels racial divide, expert warns

SHAH ALAM - The proposal to establish a school district with a centralised school admission system, which was said to be capable of achieving racial integration in Malaysia, required further explanation.

Prominent academician Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong, said that while the proposed initiative was commendable, its advantages and implementation methods remained unclear.

"We used a very simple approach, children who studied together when they were young would continue to connect as they grew up. That alone was already good and straightforward.

"So, when the term 'school district' was mentioned, it wasn’t a bad idea, but we needed to understand the real meaning of the proposal and how it would operate to successfully unite the people," he said when contacted on Tuesday.

On Nov 4, Sinar reported on a roundtable discussion programme themed Malaysia’s Education System: After 60 Years, Where Did It Go Wrong?, which discussed the challenges and improvements needed in the country’s education system in line with today’s transformations.

During the programme, 20 recommendations were formulated, including serious approaches the government needed to adopt, such as technology-based education policies, resolving teacher shortages, strengthening national education policies, and reformulating curricula and co-curricular activities.

Commenting further, Teo said the government's efforts to unite Malaysians should be welcomed, as they would lead to harmony within the country.

However, he stated that the main issue contributing to the racial divide stemmed from the current schooling system.

"Our current problem is that children, especially in primary school, are already segregated by ethnicity.

"At such a young age, even at the kindergarten level, they were separated—Malay children attended Malay Islamic kindergartens, while non-Malay children went to their respective ethnic kindergartens.

"Our current problem is that children, especially in primary school, are already segregated by ethnicity.

"At such a young age, even at the kindergarten level, they were separated—Malay children attended Malay Islamic kindergartens, while non-Malay children went to their respective ethnic kindergartens.

"Later, at the secondary school level, we wanted to mix them together. At that point, we no longer saw racial integration; instead, what occurred was racial polarization, rooted in what we had cultivated since kindergarten," he added.