WELL, it started with a little pork sausage. Apparently, it was consumed at the wrong place and at the wrong time, well, at least to one overzealous teacher. According to the little Napoleon, his school is a non-halal food free zone. It was a wrong time because had the boy tucked into his lunch when the man was not around, it would have been just another day in a school.
In case you have been hiding under a rock in the last week or so, let me repeat the headline: ‘Pupil caned for bringing non-halal food to school’. The fact is the teacher took it upon himself to punish a pupil for an infringement of a non-existent rule, for according to Sarawak Teachers’ Union president William Ghani Bina, there is no circular on the types of food that are allowed or not allowed to be brought to school.
“I have never heard of any circular to such effect. In this case, unless the boy had offered his food to others, especially Muslim pupils, I feel that all sides should have some sense of tolerance towards each other’s religion and culture,” said Ghani.
In the meantime, Datin Fatimah Abdullah, Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department, said it is inappropriate for a ban on non-halal food in schools.
“We live in a multiracial country. Some schools are 100 per cent non-Muslim, some are mixed, while some are 100 per cent Muslim,” reasoned the Minister. She pointed out that the Ministry of Education had given some leeway to schools to have their own rules and regulations.
However, the little Napoleon, having created his own rule, then transformed into a little Hitler by inflicting physical punishment on the 10-year-old boy. I do not know our Education Ministry’s guidelines on the proper form of punishment in schools, but I believe that corporal punishment is not one of them. Anyway, universally, corporal punishment in schools is generally frowned upon.
Had the matter remained at that — a case of a mistake by an overzealous teacher – it would have been merely a storm in a teacup. The latest report is that the teacher has apologised for his misdeed and the mother of the child has accepted it.
That perhaps, is a good end to a bad beginning. However, the route to this conclusion has been rather circuitous. Firstly, the initial responses from the people in authority somehow fell short of the noble cause of an educational establishment. Secondly, not a few people also attempted to hijack the issue to further their own agendas.
‘Knowledge is power’ is a maxim. In fact, it is so often repeated that it gets rather tired and has been relegated to a cliche. We tend to mouth it without appreciating its great import. In this world there are fact and fiction. A knowledgeable person must have the ability to distinguish one from the other. I believe a prerequisite for the pursuit of knowledge is to have the right attitude. At the highest level we talk about ‘academic rigour’. It refers to a high level of scholarship, one involving attention to details, careful research, advanced critical analysis and examination of a topic.
Let’s look at the behaviour of the educationalists concerned and see how they measure up to the sublime principle. The mother went to the school to seek clarification on the reason her son was punished.
“Instead of clarifying on the reason for my son’s punishment, the senior assistant said he could not find in his records such an incident, thus could not recall the caning,” she said.
That is a rather disturbing admission. Firstly, a forgetful teacher cannot be a good teacher. Secondly, it could be that he has caned so many pupils that he could not recall this particular one. Thirdly, he could just be economical with the truth. On all counts it does not reflect well on a person charged with educating our young generation and future leaders.
As if that was not enough, the Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said he had received a report that the school administrator caned the boy for another reason.
The good Minister was reported to have said, “I understand that the parent has a political background” and that the case might be “politically motivated”.
Well, so much for adherence to academic rigour and the correct learning attitude of the second most important person in charge of our children’s education.
The rub of the matter is that the teacher has since apologised, which in my book implies that he admits his mistake, which in this case is presumably for caning the boy over the non-halal food business. Now, I wonder who sent that report which apparently misled the Deputy Minister.
If the demeanour of the various parties concerned was disappointing, the views expressed by some when commenting about the incident were rather disturbing.
One person declared, “non-halal food should not be allowed in schools. You must respect the sensitivity of the Muslims”. A number of people have countered that narrow view effectively by responding, “What about beef and the sensitivities of the Hindus? Or meat and the sensitivities of the vegetarians?”
Thankfully, the Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datin Fatimah Abdullah and the Deputy Minister of Education Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong have also put paid to that unreasonable stand by saying it is inappropriate to impose such a rule and in fact there is no circular banning non-halal food in school.
Another went as far as saying that in meting out punishment on the 10-year-old boy, the teacher was fulfilling his religious obligation. Indeed, how sad a view. The best way in fulfilling one’s religious obligation is to live according to the holy teachings of one’s religion.
US President Barack Obama, in his recent visit to India said that Islam embodied a religion of peace, fairness and tolerance and that the religion was being “distorted” by a few extremists. Extremism is born out of the little seed of petty intolerance, which if not arrested will grow to bigotry and in time might develop into that spectre which now haunts the world.
There is a saying, “It’s an ill wind that blows no good”. One positive thing that emerged from this unpleasant episode of the canning over the non-halal food is that the authorities, despite an initial hiccup, have reacted appropriately. According to Datin Fatimah Abdullah, a disciplinary committee has been convened to recommend possible actions to be taken against the errant teacher.
“The disciplinary committee whose members are from the school, state Education Department and its divisional office would decide what kind of action would be taken. It is up to the committee to decide, warning or whatever, as long as it is fair and appropriate,” said the Minister.
I suppose I should say, “Thank God” for that.
The writer can be contacted at [email protected].