what are our schools teaching?

From the reports below and elsewhere,

Malaysiakini: Stop banning non-Muslim societies in schools;

MalaysiaInsider: In schools, a crackdown on non-Muslim clubs;

the answer I think would be, among others – racism, religious bigotry, intolerance, government impotence, and etc.

It seems that no one really bothers that the Constitution clearly states otherwise.

While the PM and the government continue to spin out 1Malaysia virtues, the reality is that we are a long way from anything close to it.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The proverb says that you won’t know whether food has been cooked properly until you try it. Or, putting it figuratively, don’t assume that something is in order or believe what you are told, but judge the matter by testing it; it’s much the same philosophy as in seeing is believing and action speaks louder than words.

Adibah Amin , the award winning journalist and writer seems to agree.

All of which gives rise to a few questions:

• If the Education Ministry has always allowed such societies to be active, who is responsible for its undoing?
• What was the Education Minister doing?
• If it’s the work of certain “little Napoleons” in the schools or education departments, just how was it allowed to happen?
• If parents and teachers were aware of this, why wasn’t it nipped?
• How many of us parents are actually involved in the PTA’s?  If we are, did anyone make any protest?

As it stands,  it seems yet another nail just got banged into the PM’s 1Malaysia coffin.

And for all of us a sombre warning:  We can’t go on blaming others all the time.  At the same time, we cannot be ignorant of all that’s going on around us.  Are we just satisfied with our children’s academic learning only?  What about morals and values such as responsibility, truth, right-conduct, love, peace, harmony and justice? Our children deserve to learn these and other virtues.  Sure, it all begins at home.  But it’s in schools that children learn first to mingle with others.  Are our schools teaching this and more inportantly,  seen to be living out these values?

As this echo from the past admonishes us:  ”Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” (Martin Luther King).