KUCHING: The United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) yesterday denounced the federal government for its lack of sincerity in resolving the issue of shortage of Chinese teachers nationwide.
Dong Zong also blasted some management committees of Chinese schools for sleeping on the job all these years.
Its vice-chairman Kho Hai Meng said if the government had been sincere, the problem of shortage of teachers would have been resolved within five years time. But 40 years had passed and there’s still no light at the end of the tunnel.
“The federal government is not sincere in addressing the shortage of Chinese teachers, which is long overdue.
“If the government has a will of iron, five years is more than enough to resolve the issue,” Kho said during a dialogue session with the Federation of Kuching-Samarahan Management Committees of Chinese Primary Schools at SJK Chung Hua Sg Tapang Hilir in MJC Batu Kawah here yesterday.
Kho told those present that the authorities also had the propensity to give Chinese education something which it didn’t want.
“Do not keep giving us things which we don’t really need. We truly question the motive for such actions.”
Citing an example, Kho said the Education Ministry tended to assign teachers “who do not speak Mandarin” to give lessons in Chinese primary schools.
Under the Education Act 1996, teachers of Chinese primary schools, unless teaching languages like English and Bahasa Malaysia, must know how to speak Mandarin.
“The Act says that Chinese is the main medium of instruction in Chinese primary schools, so there is no reason for the government to assign teachers who don’t even speak Mandarin,” said Kho.
He urged the many management committees to stand up and voice their concern about the lack of qualified teachers or the standard of their respective schools would continue to suffer. Earlier, Dong Zong secretary-general Poh Chin Chuan conceded that some management committees had been sitting on their job for years. Many were also found to be unaware of their roles and functions!
“Some are sleeping management committees, while many are not proactive at all. It’s either they do not know their obligations or pretended to know what they didn’t.
“After Dong Zong’s campaign to strengthen management committees of Chinese schools, we’ve seen a lot of improvements. Many of them now function as they’re supposed to,” he said.
Poh, who is heading the campaign, asserted that management committees must equip themselves with knowledge pertaining to education regulations, otherwise they would be easily cowed by the authorities.
“The more you learn about the Education Act 1996, the better position you’re in to demand for what you deserve,” he reasoned.
Meanwhile, president of the Federation of Kuching-Samarahan Management Committees of Chinese Primary Schools, Liu Thian Leong, called on his member committees to defend their rights by being familiar with the Act.
However, he lamented that the government had introduced too many regulations to manage schools.
Quoting Winston Churchill, he said: “If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law.”
Liu hoped that the Education Ministry would not simply establish regulations, which might confuse people or get in the way of education development. Dong Zong is also holding similar dialogues in Betong, Bintulu and Miri as part of its efforts to strengthen Chinese primary school management committees in the state.