Healthier to keep political parties out of secondary schools

This article was earlier published in TheAntDaily.com on 21/12/2013

Recently, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also the youth and sports minister, has suggested that political parties from both sides of the divide be allowed to target secondary schools with their party philosophies and ideologies.

Does that mean that pupils should also be allowed to join political parties of their choice? Well, Khairy’s proposal came out of the blue and was met with mixed reactions from all quarters.

First of all, the idea of allowing secondary school pupils’ participation in political parties of their choice is not suitable because of the fact that there are still race-based political parties around when schools and educationists are working very hard to instill values like non-racial approach, national unity, integrity and harmony in a multiracial society.

If race-based political parties were allowed to target secondary school pupils, efforts to instil a non-racial approach to education would certainly come to a halt. Pupils will begin to look at each other differently, and segregate themselves racially instead of socialising in a mixed race environment.

I certainly agree with former National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) deputy president P Ramanathan that political parties should stay away from schools.

Secondary school pupils are considered too young and should not be exposed to complicated propagandas of political parties as this would definitely confuse them and disrupt their studies.

There is little justification for allowing political parties to have access to school pupils simply because they are not mature enough to make political decisions although such interactions can develop their creative thinking.

A better way to create awareness and understanding of governance and politics among students is to allow Pupils’ Representative Council to be set up in secondary schools.

Currently, in universities and university colleges, there are Students Representative Councils (MPP) and campus elections are held to elect candidates to sit in these councils. With the benefit of such experience and exposure, students of institutions of higher learning should be allowed to join any political party of their choice.

In such a situation, students of higher education institutions should also take the opportunity to establish political clubs of their choice, such as the Labour Club, Socialist Club, Gerakan Club, DAP Club, MCA Club or PKR Club similar to that of their counterparts who are studying abroad.

University, university college and college students are mature enough to think critically on current affairs and issues which are related to governance, public policy and our nation’s socio-economy.

A pertinent question to Khairy’s proposal is whether the move, if implemented, would see only BN component parties establishing their presence in secondary schools while opposition parties like PKR, DAP, PSM, PRM and PAS are denied access.

Well, several Umno leaders like supreme council member Shamsul Annuar and Foreign Minister Datuk Anifah Aman had expressed opposition to any move to give opposition parties equal access to secondary schools.

So, is such a move fair and democratic? Umno and BN leaders have always accused the opposition parties of being irresponsible in dealing with university students, but what about Umno or other BN component parties? Have they been responsible enough in putting forward facts and telling the truth? We certainly doubt that.

We could see what has been going on in institutions of higher learning. Only BN leaders are allow to meet students and academicians while opposition leaders are always denied access to such educational facilities.

The same goes for events organised in secondary schools where government officials of opposition-held states are barred from entering these schools or officiating at the events.

In this case, political parties, be it BN, Umno or any other party, should stay away from these schools and leave the school pupils alone. I strongly believe that these children should not be used by political parties for their own political ends.

Just forget about this idea of trying to make use of the children once and for all.