I refer to the recent press report where schoolchildren were made to clean their school’s toilets.

First of all, as a parent myself, I will kick up a lot of fuss because while Muslim students were at their religious class, the non-Muslims (who were supposed to be going through their Pendidikan Moral class) were forced to clean the school toilets.

Isn't this racial and religious discrimination by the school authority? If the school authority wants to instill and teach cleanliness, it should teach this to the whole class rather than isolate certain ethnic groups.

Are you trying to say that Muslim students should elevate their spiritual awareness by going to religious classes but the non-Muslims should go and clean the toilet to gain the same spiritual awareness?

I'm not against the cleanliness campaign that the school is trying to implement, but I strongly disagree with the way in which it’s being done. Do not forget that the school does employ cleaners to do these types of cleaning jobs.

With these kinds of overzealous acts prevailing at national schools, no wonder parents are opting for Tamil and Chinese schools where students are not discriminated against on the basis of religion.

Furthermore, since all these students will sit for their UPSR exam this year, teachers should use whatever spare time is available to help the children to excel in their studies and the upcoming exam.

Now and then, there are reports of teachers who impose their own rules on their students. When parents question these methods, the typical immediate response (especially from the education department officers) is to ask the parents to not blow the issue out of proportion.

My question here is what is the Education Ministry's plan to prevent these kinds of acts from occurring again? How will they instruct teachers and headmasters/headmistresses? Are they not being taught to show tolerance and impartiality when educating young minds (children’s)? Isn't that what Gandhi taught the world to do?

To all the teachers out there, read Gandhi's biography. Learn the great principals that he taught and fought for so that you can share them with the younger generation.