I refer to the Malaysiakini report Gov't to revive caning in schools .

It is obvious the education system in Malaysia is in shambles. The so many years of ruling by BN have messed it up

Now we talking of bringing the cane back. How can we be called a progressive society if we are to hit a child with a cane? I have been sending my children to international schools (as I work overseas) and it is unthinkable to use a cane against a child in these schools.

The year 2020 is not so far away and we are still talking, or shall I say picketing, on such silly issues like whether we should teach subjects in Malay or English. This is really sad.

Let’s face it ,we need to bring English back if we are to work overseas and stand up in this globalised environment. Why debate about this?

The next thing is the intense pressure we put the children to bring home nine or more A's. This is terrible. The amount of pressure the children have to go through is a pitiful sight.

Ask the parent and they will tell you that the standards are so bad in school that the child does not learn anything and, therefore, tuition is necessary.

Some of the children spend equal time at tuition as they spend in schools. Why bother sending them to schools if tuition is better?

Our schools destroy the confidence of a child and make them de-motivated to learn. They then end doing something else negative to pass the time.

Then we have these vernacular schools that everyone is pushing for. I have a nephew who is in this type of school and they are subjected to even more pressure. Now they end doing subjects in both Mandarin and English.

Yes, it satisfies the mentality of the Malaysian parent who thinks ‘My child is really being pushed to the limits. The more pressure, the smarter they are’.

Then, we all got the notion that Chinese vernacular schools are better than the rest. Then we have the pitiful Tamil schools that are a waste of time and seem to only satisafy the egos of the politicians.

How on earth is a child from a Tamil school going to compete with the rest? He is already starting with a disadvantage.

Some suggestions:

  • Do not appoint the politically-linked to run schools.

  • Shut down all these vernacular schools

  • make Mandarin and Tamil as compulsory languages that a child can take up in a common school.

  • bring back English for the key subjects

  • have smaller classes

  • employ tutors to help students who lag behind.