A NATIONAL school in Batu Pahat, Johor recently came under fire for its move to segregate co-curricular activities based on the race and gender of its students.
According to a registration note issued by SMK Dato’ Bentara Luar on the registration for co-curricular activities, the students’ choices for sports were limited by their race.
The football and sepak takraw clubs were open for Malay males only while the basketball club was for Chinese males and females. Hockey, meanwhile, was open only to students living in dorms, while only Malay girls could only join the netball club.
Apart from sports, the school also imposed stipulated race requirements for some charity, language and religion-based clubs as well.
The Chinese language club, for instance, was only open to Chinese students only. This is puzzling, and begs the question: What is so wrong about other races joining the Chinese language club?
Despite previously defending the move, the school’s apology had been prompt (and fuelled by public outrage and backlash, no doubt).
The school principal, Abdul Razak Hamid, admitted to overlooking the issue of racism in the registration information and participation in co-curricular activities distributed to the Form 1 students.
He added that the mistake was unintentional and occurred due to the lack of screening and attention given to the form before it was distributed (of all the hare-brained excuses in the world!)
In an ideal world that is becoming more and more racially and ethnically diverse, schools are where our future generations learn to look past the colour of one’s skin, as well as the true meaning of racial harmony.
This is why the incident is so alarming, especially coming from a national school. How does one even ‘overlook the issue of racism’, especially when race is such a sensitive issue to begin with?
If anything, the repercussions should have been clear the moment the words ‘Cina’, ‘Melayu’ and ‘India’ were keyed in.
In this case, a simple apology doesn’t cut it, and the Ministry of Education must take stern action against the school.
As unsettling as this may sound, it is a good idea for the authorities to make an example out of schools that promote racial segregation, intentionally or otherwise.
Our future generations, I think, deserve this much. – April 21, 2021
