The recent ruckus among schools and proposed setting up of a study panel is sadly reflective of the confusion and possibly lack of political will that has gone on the past many years in the education system in the country.

Confusion reigns. Amid a backdrop of debatable compulsory national service training for all Malaysians between the ages of 16 to 35, beginning with 100,000 18-year-olds next year that will cost the country over RM500 million, media reports simmer over widespread indiscipline problems and student violence.

And here we have the Education Minister Musa Mohamed smiling and bragging about the success of vision schools, touted as the solution to curb polarisation among a heterogeneous student population, while conveniently ignoring fresh news of alleged gangsterism among a homogenous student group of the prestigious Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

Is the problem with increasing polarisation?

Who were those involved in a 'free for all' at Sekolah Menengah St David in Bukit Baru in Melaka, and what about the arrests of several Sekolah Menengah St Francis students for suspected gangsterism?

Is expulsion the solution?

The fate of 20 students expelled for terrorising other students in Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman (STAR) in Ipoh hangs in the balance - and the future of all Malaysians.

If similar expulsions were to take effect across the country, as proposed by Education director-general Abdul Rafie Mahat, to solve indiscipline woes, then Malaysia could be flooded with delinquents and potential criminals in the near future.

Can we take seriously the new panel the Education Ministry is setting up to study this problem that had taken four decades to germinate, when Rafie himself was reported in the Star to undermine the problem by describing the gang fights as merely "small misunderstandings during recess", and when he concludes prematurely that the problem "had not yet reached an alarming stage."

Is the new panel another sorry excuse for sweeping the matter under the carpet as with so many other issues that have dogged this nation in its 46 years of independence?