Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at the Pangkor Island DAP Public Rally on Saturday, 12th August 1972 at 9p.m.
Call on all parents to be concerned about the education of their children
The results of last year’s Std.V Assessment Examination, which revealed the shockingly high rate of failures in all subjects in all schools, have come as a shock to many parents.
They did not know that their children were in fact being mis-educated and mal-educated, and in large number of cases, promoted grade without picking up any elementary knowledge at all.
After six or nine years’ of such education, they are not fit for any role or job in society, and might as well not have been sent to schools at all.
It is important that the parents should henceforth take a personal interest in the education of their children, to find out whether their children are learning anything at all in schools, whether if not, to band themselves into organizations to bring about changes and improvements in the education for their children.
Education holds the key to one’s future, and child who is miseducated or maleducated will be a misfit and drop-out in society.
There seems to be an attempt on the part of the government to hide the shockingly poor standards and quality of education in our schools from the knowledge of the parents and the public.
The parent, for the interest of their children, should be more conscious of these problems, for otherwise, their sweat toil and sacrifice for their children’s education will all be in vain if their children are not receiving any decent education at all.
I therefore call on parents throughout the country of all races to take an immediate interest in this matter, and all Parents’ Association to take up this issue, if they are not to be merely window decorations.
Next Tuesday, I will be raising the question of the high failures of our primary schools students in last year’s Std.V Assessment Examination in an adjournment speech in Parliament, and we will continue to press through parliament, public rallies and meetings for the complete overhaul of the present education system to ensure that we produce high-quality students and builders of tomorrow. This is why tomorrow morning in Kuala Lumpur, the DAP Chinese Education Sub-Committee will be holding a forum for members of the public to give their views to ascertain how best we can propose solutions to the government for the upliftment and upgrading of the quality in Malaysian schools.