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Low Student Participation Rate: Dependence on Extended Contact

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Ethnic Relations at School in Malaysia

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Abstract

My interview research found that the RIMUP has faced a structural challenge of a low student participation rate. This chapter will examine how the RIMUP with the low student participation rate of the RIMUP influences the development of national integration by exploring the direct and extended contact effects of the programme. The low student participation rate inevitably limits the direct contact effect. Thus, the RIMUP must be highly reliant on the extended contact effect; however, some researchers indicate that extended contact is less effective than direct contact in improving ethnic relations. Additionally, an examination of several survey results regarding ethnic relations implies that the smaller scale of direct and extended contact in the RIMUP will not contribute substantially to reducing ethnic prejudice and improving ethnic relations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The government first revealed the number of students participating in the RIMUP in the 2016 Annual Report of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013–2025 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2017a). The number of students participating in the programme was only 7107 in 2016. The number of students in public primary and secondary education was approximately 4.8 million in 2016 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2017b). In the 2017 Annual Report of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013–2025, the government only indicated the number of students participating in a specific RIMUP activity: the Unity Camp. This activity was held in three states and one territory: Kelantan State, Terengganu State, Pahang State and Kuala Lumpur, and this activity was also implemented at the national level. The overall number of participants in the Unity Camp was 716 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2018).

  2. 2.

    Overall, only 888 (2.9 per cent) of 30,451 students in 48 sample schools participated in the RIMUP.

  3. 3.

    The number of public primary school students was 2,742,169 in 2013 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2014b). It can be estimated that approximately 16,500 primary school students participated in RIMUP activities.

  4. 4.

    The number of public primary school students was 2,698,883 in 2014 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2014b). It seems that approximately 24,300 primary school students participated in RIMUP activities.

  5. 5.

    Since the number of public primary school students was 2,690,971 in 2015 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2017b), approximately 13,500 primary school students participated in RIMUP activities.

  6. 6.

    Only 7107 students participated in the RIMUP (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2017a), while the numbers of public primary and secondary school students participating were 2,684,973 and 2,145,298, respectively (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2017b).

  7. 7.

    The government did not disclose the number of schools and students participating in the RIMUP in 2017 and only indicated that the number of students participating in the Unity Camp was 716 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2018), implying that the student participation rate in 2017 was lower than in previous years.

  8. 8.

    In peninsular Malaysia, 12.2 per cent of Chinese students enrolled in non-Chinese primary schools in 1978 (Lee 2000, 6). In 1993 and 1999, 11.6 per cent and 9.1 per cent, respectively, of Chinese students enrolled in Malay primary schools (Shen 2006b). However, the number of Chinese students in Malay primary schools has recently declined, mainly because of the increasingly strong Islamic atmosphere in Malay schools. Indeed, only 4 per cent of Chinese students were enrolled in non-Chinese primary schools in 2011 (Ministry of Education Malaysia 2013, E-7).

  9. 9.

    The percentage and number of non-Chinese students in Chinese primary schools increased from 3.0 per cent and 17,309 in 1989 (Shen 2006b).

  10. 10.

    Direct ethnic interaction also occurred within English primary schools until their elimination in 1975. As enrolments in English primary schools increased from 160,589 in 1957 to 235,416 in 1963 and enrolments in Chinese primary schools decreased from 361,208 in 1957 to 350,854 in 1963 (Shen 2006a, 68), Malay and non-Malay students were mixed within English primary schools.

  11. 11.

    This survery was conducted in 15 secondary schools in Kedah and Pulau Pinang with 581 students as samples.

  12. 12.

    In contrast, Ezhar (2006) argued that students had engaged in ethnic interaction since his research found that less than 3.0 per cent of students had no friends of other ethnic groups.

  13. 13.

    The respondents (1013) were aged 20 or older. Most of them had direct and extended contact within a primary school.

  14. 14.

    The respondents (2137) were aged 21 or older. Most of them had direct and extended contact within a primary school.

  15. 15.

    In particular, 50 per cent of Chinese described national integration as superficial.

  16. 16.

    The respondents (4352) were aged 18 or older.

  17. 17.

    The question is ‘In the next 5 years, do you think ethnic relations will: worsen, remain the same or improve?’

  18. 18.

    Najib recognised the results of the 2013 election as a ‘Chinese Tsunami’, since the BN’s weak performance in the 2013 election was mainly attributed to a swing in Chinese support towards the PR. Furthermore, he demonstrated the UMNO’s appreciation of Bumiputeras who supported the BN in the 2013 election, and the government ensured the continuation of a Malay preferential stance, as observed in the Bumiputera Empowerment Programmes.

  19. 19.

    Most respondents to the Najeemah, Merdeka Centre and Star surveys experienced natural direct contact in primary education.

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  1. Kindai University, Osaka, Japan

    Noriyuki Segawa

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Segawa, N. (2019). Low Student Participation Rate: Dependence on Extended Contact. In: Ethnic Relations at School in Malaysia. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9857-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9857-5_7

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9856-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9857-5

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