The sum total of complaints associated with Tamil schools has had at least one effect a comprehensive study has documented in detail the woes of this system of education and paved the way for focused strategies to be introduced.

The study, conducted two years ago, has since become the basis of a 10-year master plan prepared by the National Action Council for Tamil Schools, through the MIC's social arm Yayasan Strategik Sosial (YSS).

Now in the process of being implemented, the master plan includes measures to improve the qualifications of teachers, as well as to expand facilities in schools to keep up with needs in science and information and communications technology (ICT).

New approaches will also attempt to finally rid Tamil schools of colonial baggage among these, constraints caused by land ownership, sharing of classrooms, deplorable physical infrastructure, inferior resources and ridiculously low budget allocations.

The missing link

These problems are only too familiar to the Kuala Lumpur-based Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), which has been championing the cause of Tamil-language education.

The group comprises professionals whose children are studying in Tamil schools. These parents argue that the children face unique problems which need special consideration.

Their biggest concern is the fact that the majority of pupils come from a poor socio-economic background, where the average monthly household income is between RM500 and RM700.

Working through the pro tem Malaysian Tamil Educational Research and Development Foundation, the GCC advocates the establishment of Tamil-language kindergartens for earlier exposure of pupils to the education process.

"Most of the children speak Tamil at home. There are only a few kindergartens which act as a source of pupils for Tamil schools. Hence, many pupils have been going straight to Year 1," says foundation pro tem president M Manogar.

Under the master plan, more kindergartens will be added to those already established by the Education Ministry as pilot projects in several Tamil (and Chinese) schools in every state since 1991, says Tamil School Headmasters Association president N Vairavan.

"As for some partially-aided Tamil schools, kindergartens have been set up by the Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs)," he adds. "The government plans to introduce kindergartens in all primary schools by 2010."

More time for teaching

Even when children get into primary schools, their ability to learn depends on the structure of lessons and teaching methods. The fact that Tamil school pupils have consistently been low achievers can be traced to specific reasons.

The YSS report notes that poor results in Bahasa Melayu (BM) and English are due to the disparity in time allocated for the subjects 270 minutes for BM per week for Year 1 to 3 (compared with 450 minutes in national schools) and 150 minutes for Year 4 to 6 (300 minutes in national schools).

English is now introduced in Tamil schools in Year 3 with 90 minutes allocated per week. Pupils in national schools begin learning the language in Year 1, over 240 minutes a week up to Year 3, and continue with 210 minutes weekly between Year 4 and 6.

The master plan therefore proposes that English be taught from Year One by teachers who are trained to understand the language needs and culture of Tamil school pupils.

This is expected to be implemented next year in all Tamil schools, says Vairavan.

It is a long overdue measure and one greeted with obvious relief by proponents of Tamil-language education like Manogar.

He holds Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad "directly or indirectly" responsible for the decline in the standard of English, saying that it is the result of the government's "conscious neglect of the language at every level of our education system".

"As a result, we now have university graduates who cannot speak even the level of English we used to speak when we were in (then) Standard Six," he notes.

Outcomes of poverty

The high rate of poverty among most Indian parents who send their children to Tamil schools is manifested in basic ways that affect performance and mindset. Textbooks, for instance, are expensive, while young active bodies soon grow out of uniforms and shoes.

When parents cannot afford to replenish these items on demand, out of necessity they stop their children from attending school.

The master plan draws attention to the government's textbooks loan scheme, suggesting that it be expanded to cover those earning up to RM1,500 the same basis of eligibility as for parents who send their children to national schools.

Ironically, for vernacular schools, the scheme had been restricted to parents who earn about RM700 a month, under a condition stipulated in 1999. It has since been raised to RM1,000.

Inadequate nutrition, another dimension of poverty, plays havoc with pupils' ability to concentrate on lessons during the growing years. The government now sponsors a food-supplement programme for poorer pupils, but the master plan suggests improvements.

It wants the budget increased for the programme in all primary schools, and assurances that meals are healthy and of appropriate quality to meet the children's special dietary needs. Vitamin deficiency is a particular problem among Tamil school pupils.

There must also be sufficient guarantees that allocated funds reach Tamil schools for the scheme to be more effectively implemented, the master plan states.

Training the teachers

The YSS study, which picked up Education Ministry figures, found that 16 percent of the 6,152 teachers in Tamil schools in 2000 had not undergone basic training.

Alarmingly, too, the study finds that many who have not opted to be trained as Bahasa Melayu teachers have, nonetheless, ended up teaching the language in Tamil schools.

They have resorted to using Malay dialects which pupils cannot grasp, and they lack a general understanding of the psyche of Tamil schools and pupils.

"This could derail the performance in Tamil schools. Currently, the ministry is only taking in 300 trained teachers to serve Tamil schools," says the YSS study.

The master plan therefore proposes that more teachers be sent for special holiday courses. This would also provide practical training for temporary teachers, thereby keeping up at least minimum standards in the quality of teaching.

Teacher training is to be upgraded through distance-learning courses and full-time university courses among other schemes.

To some extent, this would help alleviate the shortage of teachers for Science and Mathematics in Tamil schools.

Pupils' progress has also been held back by the lack of access to Tamil terminology for specialised words in these subjects.

However, Teachers Training Colleges and the Curriculum Development Centre have since come up with a list of terminology for Science and Living Skills, which is being distributed to all schools, says Vairavan.

Other proposals in the pipeline are to provide funding for a resource centre in schools and a computer laboratory in every district, and exposure to ICT.

The YSS study says 30.6 percent of Tamil schools have Internet-ready computers nationwide, but that schools and PTAs in rural schools generally find it more difficult to provide such facilities. (graphic - computers and internet)

Land-based issues

The bane of Tamil schools since colonial times has been linked to land ownership. Almost half of the 520 schools are located in estates, with the site owned by the management, PTA, a religious body or individuals.

Due to this, the government has categorised 70 percent of Tamil schools as partially-aided schools. In short, they are not eligible for full government funding.

The YSS report suggests that the Education Ministry announces the basic criteria for fully-aided schools so that Tamil schools can take steps to attain this status.

Funding is an acute need to shore up crumbling walls and to rebuild those schools that the Public Works Department has declared unsafe for occupation forcing classes to be held under trees and any other available space.

A 1999 study done by the MIC education bureau showed that almost half of the 346 Tamil schools surveyed then were wood-and-plank structures. One school did not even have its own building, while the rest did not provide a conducive environment for study because of high noise-levels in their surroundings.

Some schools share premises, for example, SJK (C) (Bahagian Tamil) Kemayan in Pahang. It is housed in a Chinese school, and is uniquely considered the Tamil section of that school.

Level playing field?

However, one or two sparks of hope have been registered of late, as far as Tamil schools are concerned.

In Malacca, a developer gave SJK (T) Ladang Pegoh compensation of RM400,000 through the state government when the estate was sold for redevelopment. The money was used to build a school building on a two-hectare plot of land in an new location.

Little steps like these to save schools that can realistically be kept going would translate into a practical strides in redressing historical neglect and giving the Indian Malaysian community confidence that this is an institution worth retaining.

At the same time, advancements in student performance could influence the thinking of the community as it considers the future of such schools. Wider empathy for the plight of Tamil schools is certainly in short supply at the moment, even within the community.

Manogar, who is trying to reach out to middle-class Indians for greater support, complains that most of them subscribe to the notion that Tamil-language education hinders the progress of children.

He begs to differ, pointing out that they have not been given much of a chance because of the huge obstacles that the whole Tamil-language education sector faces.

For now, as new measures take root, parents and Tamil-language educationists cling to the hope that, some day, these schools and their pupils will be deemed to be on par with their national-school counterparts.

This could yet happen, but only if there is a level playing field.