ONE of the hotly debated issues on Tamil vernacular schools is their ability to overcome current challenges, one of the most pressing being under enrollment, as pointed out at a recent Forum by the Global Organisation People of Indian Origin (Gopio) in 2022, the survival of such schools is at stake.
At the forum, it was highlighted that 60% of 527 Tamil vernacular schools did not have sufficient numbers, as there were only less than 50 students in each of the 300 under enrolled schools. Another fact, in 1963, there were 720 Tamil schools, which dropped to 526 in 2000.
But for Director for Centre for Vernacular School Excellence, Arun Dorasamy, the scenario is not the under enrollment in Tamil vernacular schools but the stark reality of the need to relocate existing Tamil schools in rural schools to urban areas.
According to Arun, the latest studies and research has shown that 69% of Tamil schools were located in rural areas but 89% of the Tamil population had shifted to urban areas.
“This mismatch can be corrected if a new education blueprint for Tamil schools can be drawn up, matching the urban Tamil population to newly built schools, using their existing licences and not closing or combining Tamil schools as may be easier to do but not solving the needs of the Tamil population,” he said.
Historically Tamil vernacular schools existed pre-independence, and is interwoven with the economic history of Malaya, where rubber trees were tapped by cheap Indian labour brought in by the British, from South India, to rake in profits from booming rubber prices.
To keep the rubber tappers happy, Tamil schools mushroomed in these plantations dotted all over peninsular Malaya.
However, when Malaya achieved independence in 1957, the right to vernacular schools remained enshrined in the Constitution and over time underwent many changes.
But Tamil educationalists have persistently fought for the existence of these Tamil vernacular schools as it is a strong link to the culture and language of their forefathers.
As time went on, rubber was less in demand but land had risen in value, so as more and more plantations were sold off, the existing Indian labour force moved to urban areas in search of a better life.
This resulted in a sharp decline in Tamil school population, and many where the enrollment was less than 10 closed down and some, but not all, were relocated to urban areas, where there was enough of a Tamil population to support Tamil vernacular schools.
“The government must allocate funds more strategically in urban Tamil schools and build them up to be equipped with the necessary facilities and equipment for students to benefit,” said Elanjelian Venugopal, an advocate for the continued upliftment of Tamil schools and heads the Tamil Foundation.
“Another aspect that has caused the enrolment to drop is the lower population growth of the Indian community, resulting in lower enrolment numbers.
“The relocation of schools does not pose a problem as in 2011, the government at that time, took note of our recommendations and established six new vernacular Tamil schools, in Sungai Petani, Petaling Jaya, Sungai Siput, Cheras Mahkota and Johor Bahru.
“There is no doubt there are problems faced by Tamil vernacular schools but this is also present in other countries where there are large rural communities, such as Australia but there must be a will and commitment by the government to solve these issues to ensure the continued existence of Tamil schools,” said Elanjelian, who hoped for the continued cooperation of the Ministry of Education to resolve the matters.
One successful story of the relocation of a Tamil school is 90-year-old SJKT Ladang Bukit Bertam in Negri Sembilan, to the new township of Bandar Sri Sendayan in 2018, which today has a gleaming new building and is fully equipped with modern new facilities.
Newly minted school principal Shanti Achudan praised the newly relocated school,
“The school was built along the lines of an international school, with the latest state of the art facilities for the benefit of the children in the school, and even though many students cannot speak the Tamil language, but the parents registered them as they realised the value of preserving and learning the mother tongue,” she said.
Dr Kumaranvelu Ramasamy, who today serves as general secretary of the United Tamil Associations Malaysia, with 170 Tamil based organisations affiliations, highlighted another pressing issue.
“We promote our mother tongue based on the multilingual education framework (MTB-MTB). This means in order to establish quality teaching and a good learning environment in Tamil schools, the schools require well trained Bahasa Malaysia (BM) and English teachers for students to become proficient in these languages by the time they are ready to go to secondary schools.
The quality of learning BM and English as a second language is also affected as almost 40% of Year 1 pupils come in without pre-schooling experience. However, the acquisition of proficiency in second languages at primary school can only be sped up by providing the best learning conditions and resources as support system. This is seriously lacking in vernacular schools, especially well-trained BM teachers ,” he said.
Dr Kumaranvelu also expressed his concern at the lack of language laboratories in Tamil schools for children to improve their listening and speaking skills.
“The students in Tamil schools are not native speakers so all the more reason for strong support systems. We need to consider whether there are any special allocations from the Ministry of Education for Tamil vernacular schools to initiate school based intervention programmes to raise BM teaching and learning standards by improving the standards of students to learn BM.
“Research into this area has exposed the fact that 80% of vernacular school students are not interested in learning BM, all the more reason to direct resources to assist Tamil schools to effectively master proficiency of BM,” he added.
In looking at the progress of Tamil vernacular schools, there is no doubt that academic standards have improved by leaps and bounds and many students have won innovation awards both locally and overseas but to ensure not only the right of Tamil schools to survive but also thrive remains with the government and the stakeholders to work together for the common good of Tamil vernacular schools.
