Inculcating unity among schools via Rimup
Published on: Monday, October 20, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: Unity is best inculcated since young, especially when children are not prejudiced towards any race or religion.Deputy Education Officer of Kota Kinabalu, Suhaimi Harun, said Pupils Integration Plan for Unity (Rimup), is one way to achieve this.The education system is not made up entirely of national-type schools as there are also Chinese, Tamil and Mission schools, among others. It is not an excuse to disregard unity among the multi-racial and multi-religious society of Malaysia.
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"That is why we want them (pupils and students) to understand the values of unity," he said at the closing of Rimup Camp at SK Mutiara where 56 primary schools within the perimeters of Kota Kinabalu took part.Former Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said: "Unity should be an important goal in the nation's school system so that the country continues to be stable, peaceful and enjoy the fruits of past generations' labour."The existence of Chinese schools and other non-national type schools, he said, should not be a hindrance to unity.It is for this reason that the government's Rimup programme was set up – to focus on unity among all ethnicity in the country, he said.
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"It is my hope that this programme will be continued," said Suhaimi.This is especially so in Sabah, he said, where there are more than 30 sub-ethnic groups.
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According to him, the participants in the Rimup Camp initially had some reservations about other participants but it eventually dissipated when they interact with one another through the activities that were laid-out."Through the programme, they will unwittingly learn about their friends and subsequently their cultures."This is the aim or zest of the programme, which is to enable the participants, most of whom are pupils from different primary schools, to interact with one another and eventually break the prejudice barrier," he said.Once they achieved this, he said the participants would then develop higher tolerance towards their new acquaintances and as a result, they would be more harmonious.Suhaimi said there are also other similar programmes that are geared towards unity.The Rimup programme achieves unity through five factors namely academic, traditional sport, culture, co-curriculum and community activity.It was revived after it was introduced in 1986 by the then Education Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.Its main objective is to encourage the participation of the teaching fraternity and pupils to participate in an activity together as well as to inculcate the spirit of cooperation. This is to create understanding and tolerance among the pupils of diverse ethnicity in schools.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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