THE recent decision by the Education Ministry to give priority to children from the B40 group to study in residential schools or sekolah berasrama penuh (SBP) is commendable, “More places in residential schools”.
Looking back, one of the major objectives in establishing residential schools was to improve the social mobility of the Malays who were deemed to be lagging behind the Chinese and Indians post-independence. Over the years, residential schools have greatly benefited the Malay community but have also created a false impression that they are reserved for high-achieving Malay students from the elite class.
This has inadvertently created a situation of academic tracking, where only high-performing children of the elites are enrolled in residential schools while the rest attend regular public schools.
Academic tracking can generally be defined as separating students based on their academic performance. Hence, the Education Ministry’s move can be considered as a form of de-tracking as it attempts to provide access and opportunities to students from the lower-income group to study in residential schools by not basing the admission on academic excellence.
It is without doubt that unequal distribution of school resources can shape the students’ learning experiences and outcomes. School resources, particularly funding, can either reinforce or exacerbate inequalities. Since the Malaysian education system is centralised, funding tends to equalise resources across communities.
In racially dynamic countries, there is a moral obligation to equalise spending and resources in fairness to all communities. However, in the attempt to be equal, the distribution of funding and resources are disproportionately favoured in allocations.
In the case of Malaysia, a glance at the nation’s budget for schools for 2019 reveals some interesting statistics. Fully residential schools are to receive RM50mil, and with only 69 fully residential schools, this equates to each school receiving RM0.72mil of the fund.
However, these numbers are highly provisional as the allocated funds are for school maintenance purposes. Nonetheless, it shows approximately how much each residential school receives.
On the other hand, the budget allocation for national secondary schools was not stated. A major point to consider here is that resources can certainly accentuate inequalities within schools if they are devoted primarily to already advantaged students. In this case, high-achieving students are able to reap the benefits while their low-performing counterparts from low income backgrounds continue to suffer.
Lack of funding for national schools, which predominantly consist of students from a poorer background, limits the learning experience. Students in boarding schools are exposed to better learning materials and learning environment due to better funding. Thus, placing more students of the B40 group in residential schools would provide them with the needed resources as well as the cultural and social capital to increase their chances of success in the future. In essence, this would improve their social mobility, in which the bigger picture is to build the economy and reduce the disparity between the rich and poor.
Multiple studies have shown that academic tracking reinforces low social status as it creates social hierarchies. As mentioned earlier, parents of high-performing Malay students tend to gravitate towards fully residential schools for their children’s secondary education due to the better opportunities available in these places.
These students are able to thrive academically due to the high-quality facilities and a fast-track curriculum that enables them to reach greater heights.
While this is beneficial for the development of Malaysia, there is a major downside – mid-performing and low-status Malay students end up in national schools where they tend to become underachieving students throughout their secondary education.
It is a fact that national schools face more disciplinary problems among students compared to fully residential schools. A report by the Education Ministry released in 2017 listed 402 schools with disciplinary and drugs problems. Of these, 388 were national secondary schools, five were Chinese national secondary schools, four national primary schools, four vocational schools and one Chinese primary school.
While residential schools have their own disciplinary problems, these are usually swept under the rug as the students are expected to be well behaved. In contrast, in national schools, low expectation among teachers coupled with low self-esteem of their students impact negatively on the learning experience, and this is not conducive for mid-performing students from the B40 group.
While there was a need for Malaysia to invest on its brightest minds through residential schools a couple of decades ago, it is high time now to refocus our energy on the B40 group to ensure social mobility for the lower levels of society. We need to face the hard truth that many students from the B40 group are from broken families and that fully residential schools are most likely the environment they need for a better future. Thus, despite the negative reaction from certain quarters, the ministry’s decision should be welcomed as we move forward together.
