DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, Today issued the following statement;
The mis-education and mal-education of Malaysian students: Mass failure in Tamil primary schools
In the last two days, I had given the details of the mass failures during last year’s Standard V Assessment Test in Perak’s national primary schools, national-type (Chinese) primary schools, throughout the country, and Perak’s national-type (English) primary school.
I propose today to give the shocking results of the Tamil primary schools, where the rate of mass failures is even more disturbing.
The state where the percentage of failure is highest is Perlis, where the failure rate among the Standard V Tamil student is 60% to 90%.
Thus, for the State of Perlis, the percentage of failure among Standard V pupils in the assessment Test last year from national-type (Tamil) primary schools is as follows:
PERLIS (Percentage of failure)
Bahasa Tamil 70%
Bahasa Malaysia I 60%
Bahasa Inggeris I 80%
Mathematics 90%
Science 90%
Geography-History 80%
Form such shocking results, it is clear that the Tamil school in Perlis are not fit to exist at all.
The results from other states are equally bad for other subjects. Thus, in Bahasa Tamil, following Perlis lead of 70% failures are Penang (52.48%), and Kelantan (47.92%)
In Bahasa Malaysia I, Penang topped the list of percentage with 65.72% followed by Malacca (62.14%), Perlis (60.00%) and Pahang (54.61%).
In Bahasa Inggeris I, Perlis led with 80% failures, followed by Selangor (67.52%), Penang (58.58%) and Malacca (52.30%).
The results in other subjects, like science, mathematics, and geography-history are equally shocking.
It is clear that the students in the national-type (Tamil) primary schools are being mis-educated or mal-educated. It is indeed shocking that 60% and over of the students do not know enough to pass a single subject.
This is a condemnation of the present education system, and Tamil education and educational bodies must stop its indifference and apathy and wake up to the seriousness of the problem and its consequences for the children in their post-school life.
I am giving the detailed results of the Std. V Assessment Test last year for national-type ( Tamil) primary schools in the belief that parents should know about at the quality and standard of education their children are getting in schools.
Standard V Assessment Test 1971 Results National-type ( Tamil) primary schools (Percentage of Failures)
Bahasa Malaysia I Bahasa Inggeris I
Selangor 71.90% Perlis 80.00%
Penang 65.72% Selangor 67.52%
Malacca 62.14% Penang 58.58%
Perlis 60.00% Malacca 52.30%
Pahang 54.61% Kedah 50.89%
Kedah 52.88% Negri Sembilan 49.10%
Perak 50.39% Pahang 44.86%
Negri Sembilan 49.38% Perak 41.87%
Kelantan 47.91% Johore 40.83%
Johore 47.13% Kelantan 37.50%
Mathematics Science
Perlis 90.00% Perlis 90.00%
Penang 72.19% Perak 65.89%
Selangor 62.65% Pahang 64.02%
Kelantan 58.33% Penang 50.28%
Malacca 55.62% Trengganu 48.85%
Pahang 54.63% Johore 48.82%
Kedah 53.31% Negri Sembilan 48.56%
Negri Sembilan 50.89% Perlis 45.84%
Perak 41.35% Kedah 43.77%
Johore 41.35% Kelantan 42.65%
History-Geography Tamil Language
Perlis 80.00% Perlis 70.00%
Penang 71.76% Penang 52.48%
Selangor 68.03% Selangor 51.12%
Malacca 56.07% Kelantan 47.92%
Negri Sembilan 54.81% Kedah 43.57%
Pahang 54.40% Malacca 43.39%
Kedah 51.89% Pahang 42.14%
Kelantan 47.92% Negri Sembilan 36.97%
Perak 47.39% Perak 35.80%
Johore 43.89% Johore 35.73%
A study of these results shows not only very poor performance in all subjects, but reveals the shocking position where at least 36% of the students fail all subjects. Yet they are blindly forced to be promoted to Standard VI, for no purpose whatever.
There must be immediately remedial action by Tamil educationists and educational bodies, in collaboration with educationists and other educational bodies, to arrest the shockingly poor quality of education in our schools. For otherwise, we will only be training misfits for our society, who can only be unemployed and add to the social tension in our country.
I therefore urge Indian public opinion to take a lead to rectify this very grave educational and social problem of low quality and standards of education in our schools.