I VIEW with apprehension the negative comments by several non-governmental organisations and individuals regarding the high-performance schools (HPS) announced recently.
Even though they are entitled to their opinion, they should have been more mature in their approach to this new development. The fact that all the selected schools are national schools is central to their unhappiness.

To question the choice of the 20 schools by comparing them with vernacular schools smacks of racism. It is sad that even as adults we are unable to rid ourselves of this prejudice.

We look at this issue as a case of national schools versus others. This is very unfortunate because we fail to see that these schools belong to all Malaysians.

On hindsight, I understand why they reacted the way they did. We designed our education system in such a way that every child goes to the school catering to a certain race only. We proudly call it freedom of choice and unity in diversity.

But the truth is, it is this practice that is dividing us now and will divide our children in the future.

As much as I appreciate the arduous task of the authorities in selecting the HPS, I am afraid that I have to disagree with the initiative.

By coming up with a new school group, we not only fail to address the existing problems in our education system, but also give ammunition to the cynics among us and cause confusion for the public.

The government will be accused of being insincere in its endeavours, let alone staying focused to see through its long-term plans. New education concepts seem to crop up whenever there is someone new in charge. Earlier, it was vision schools. This was followed by cluster schools. Now, we have the HPS. Who monitors and what happens to the earlier two groups of schools?

I think the authorities should instead utilise their energy and resources to introduce a single school system. There will definitely be similar objections to contend with, but at least we know it is in the best interests of future generations.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/19hg/Article/index_html