'Racist' exam question queried
Published on: Thursday, March 30, 2017
Kuala Lumpur: Minister in charge of national unity Tan Sri Joseph Kurup urged the Education Ministry to punish a teacher for allegedly promoting racial and religious stereotypes using a primary school's moral examination paper.The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department also denounced the typecasting that was exposed by a local actress, and said the incident merited careful investigation by the Education Ministry."This recent incident as exposed via social media warrants concerns from the relevant authority, especially the Ministry of Education, because if the case was genuine and left unchecked, the younger generation will be seriously misguided into accepting racial and religious stereotyping as justified and allowed.ADVERTISEMENT "And the teacher who came up with such a misguided notion should be disciplined for such misleading and plain wrong teaching of our kids that one can just assume one's religion by merely looking at one's name," he said in a statement.In a post on the Instagram photo-sharing service, actress Sarah Lian shared a picture of a moral test paper apparently from a national school in Petaling Jaya that asked students to associate names to different houses of worship.The names were Devi, Hock Lee, Kamal, and Steve. Students were required to write the appropriate name under pictures of a church, a Hindu temple, a Chinese temple, and a mosque.In the photograph, the student — a daughter of Lian's friend — linked Devi to the church, Steve to the Hindu temple, Kamal to the Chinese temple, and Hock Lee to the mosque. The examiner marked all four answers as wrong.ADVERTISEMENT Lian criticised the question as "racist" and "archaic".Centre For A Better Tomorrow (Cenbet) also expressed concern.
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Its vice-president Ng Yeen Seen said the test would only guide children into accepting stereotypes and called on the Education Ministry to be more stringent in vetting school materials.She added that not every person with a Chinese name practices Taosim or Buddhism, and likewise for people with Indian or Malay names."Our society has no space for such stereotyping and such unhealthy approach of educating our next generation should be evaluated," she said in a statement.A photo of the exam question went viral on Facebook after it was shared by actress Sarah Lian who described it as "archaic and racist."The Year One Moral Education (Pendidikan Moral) exam paper was released by a national school in Petaling Jaya.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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In the photo, the student who took the exam matched Devi to the church, Steve to the Hindu temple, Kamal to the Chinese temple, and Hock Lee to the mosque.All four of her answers were marked as wrong.