I was fortunate enough to have gone to six different schools (not including colleges) during my youth so I can say that I’ve been exposed to quite a variety of education systems, namely in Japan, UK, US and Malaysia. Co-eds, boys’ schools, public schools, private schools, international schools, those with uniforms and those without – I’ve gone through all these formal educational settings. However, there’s another variety which I didn’t experience – though I wish I did – and that is the vernacular school.

The reason why I wish I had ‘tried out’ the SR(J)K is none other than to find out what actually goes on in this type of school. In other words, I want to check out its system to find out for myself how different it is from the regular Malaysian public schools (SRKs and SMKs). I’m thinking – how different can it be? Aside from the language the lessons are taught in and being a minority (something I’m already used too anyway) all the students in vernacular schools study for the same exams anyway (PMR and SPM).

However, my desire to experience vernacular schools (by turning back time) does not in any way supersede my conviction that these schools should be turned into SRKs and SMKs. This is simply because I feel that it is important to encourage kids to interact with students of different races, especially for a multicultural country like ours.

I have nothing against those who are adamant about preserving their respective cultures and languages but, deep inside, I feel that these people fail to see the greater good of having their children become exposed to other races and cultures at a young age.

For most Malay families, their children are also sent to Sekolah Agama (religious schools) and, on top of that, they are also sent to Quran recital classes (usually in the evenings). This way, religious studies will always be a part of growing up. Personally, I think if the other races feel that retaining their culture is very important for their children, then perhaps all Malaysians should do the same – have language, religious and/or cultural classes after school. Or, perhaps, create cultural or religious classes catered for the non-Muslims in SRKs and SMKs. I’m not too sure how this idea would be received but the most important thing is this type of segregation and polarization at a young age has got to stop.

Imagine a Malay boy who lives with his Malay family in a Malay neighborhood, goes to Malay schools (SJK and Sekolah Agama). This boy will only end up growing up with very limited interactions with people of other races.

What’s so bad about that, some of you might say. Here are examples of some faux pas committed by Malaysians ‘who should know better’ because they were not familiar with certain aspects of other cultures and religions.

Let’s see, there was that time when Perkasa president Ibrahim Ali (bad enough that he is the president of a right-wing Malay organization) gave out white ang pows. Though Ibrahim’s intention of giving out money to elderly Chinese folks may be good, he was totally oblivious to the fact that white packets is traditionally associated with the pak kam (white gold), which are donations given at a funeral. I too didn’t know this although I have plenty of Chinese friends and had spent two years in a Chinese-majority SMK.

There was also the incident where The Star had published a photo of US-based R&B artist Erykah Badu which was deemed offensive by the religious department. The oversight resulted in the cancellation of Erykah’s concert and an editor from the predominantly Chinese / non-Malay media organization was suspended.

Then there was that time during the Labis by-election last year where MCA president Chua Soi Lek took a dig at the PAS candidate for not shaking the hands of the people she met during campaigning. Chua said that he was clueless to the fact that Muslim women are actually forbidden to have any physical contact with men (other than her husband). That’s a real shame for a leader of Chua’s stature. Never mind that he’s well educated and the head of the second biggest political party in the country, the guy is a 65-year-old Malaysian who has lived in this country almost his whole life. Well, I wonder if he went to vernacular school…

So, what I’m saying is, the incidents above could have been avoided if we are exposed to people of the other races from a very young age. And to do this we need to do away with SJKs and turn it into SKs which will end segregation of our children at a young age. How could we promote racial segregation and polarization of our children? What kind of example are we setting our kids who will be the future ministers, doctors and teachers? How could we let our kids to be a katak di bawah tempurung? I’m pretty sure those who went to vernaculars would be able to understand this saying.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer.