'Bina Bangsa' module for both national, vernacular schools - Education Minister

Once implemented, the new “Bina Bangsa” module would affect both national primary schools and vernacular schools.

Education Minister Datuk Mahdzir Khalid said the joint programmes would see the participation of all primary school students, be it from a Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT).

"As I have stated earlier, as a start the module will be jointly conducted between all SK and vernacular schools. The programme is for all primary schools.

"That was what I meant," he said in a text message to Astro AWANI Thursday.

His clarification came on the heels of DAP's Zairil Khir Johari who had questioned the need for the module to only be introduced in vernacular primary schools when the non-Bumiputera enrollment at national schools were at an all-time low.

Zairil Khir, in a statement Thursday, had said that contrary to general perception, national schools are actually now more mono-ethnic in its make up as compared to vernacular schools, especially Chinese schools.

The Bukit Bendera MP had also said it was very "mischievous" for Mahdzir to imply that vernacular schools were an obstacle to national unity as such an assertion was without basis.

He added that the ministry should instead look into the values that are imparted as well as the quality of education available, especially in national schools.

It was recently reported that the 'Bina Bangsa' module would be introduced for vernacular primary schools to address the lack of interaction between races among school children.

According to Mahdzir, it was difficult to attract non-Malays to national schools because of the existence of vernacular schools that cater to the Chinese and Tamil mother tongues.