National schools inferior to SAR, says education activist
National schools could not possibly implement the kind of religious education syllabus currently offered by the Islamic religious schools, said the chairperson of Save the SAR Movement (Gegar), Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid (in black songkok).
He said although national schools are well-equipped with modern teaching aids, he is not confident that they could produce students whose standards are equal to those of religious schools known collectively by their Malay acronym as SAR.
This is because there is a great difference in the time allocated for religious subjects, between SAR and national schools.
"A total of 15 hours is allocated weekly for the religious education in primary SAR whereas only three hours are given in national schools. At the lower secondary level, the time allocated for the subject is 14 hours and 2.66 hours respectively.
"At the upper secondary level, SAR allocates 19.33 hours a week for Islamic education whereas national schools only give six hours," he said in a working paper presented at a convention on SAR organised by Gegar in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday.
According to Azmi, SAR is also offering subjects in advanced religious studies which comprise nine subjects, whereas national schools combine all those subjects into a single general subject on religion.
"Generally, SAR students are well-mannered because the syllabus emphasise discipline and good conduct. If the system in the national schools is that effective, why are there thousands of disciplinary cases reported every year?" he asked.
Azmi also dismissed allegations that SAR students have a bleak future compared with those from national schools.
Instead, he said many SAR students were offered a place in local universities as well as abroad.
Performance improved
According to him, SAR students have been also performing well in Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR), Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM).
He added that a survey by the Education Ministry in 1996 concluded that the performance of SAR students had improved every year, so too the number of SAR students being offered a place in institutions of higher learning.
"The survey also showed that the dropout rate in national schools in 1992-93 is 7.97 percent (87,410 students) especially among Form Three and Form Four students. The question now is why SAR, which does not experience such problems, has become the target of all sorts of allegations.
"More surprising is that the percentage of national school students who have successfully completed their studies between 1989 and 1993 is only 68.01 per cent," he added.
Azmi claimed that SAR has not only produced locally renowned Islamic scholars, but also nationalistic and responsible citizens.
As such, he said, the government should continue giving financial assistance to SAR to enable them to further prosper for the benefit of the future Muslim community.
The government said it has decided to stop giving aid to SAR because they are not spreading Islamic teachings but sowing hatred towards the government among students.
In addition, the government wants students of SAR absorbed into national schools by early next month.
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