Berita NECF Newletters

Reviving Our Parched Wasteland

Description: As we look at our schools and Malaysian society at large today, we cannot help but feel that something is very wrong with our education system.

Reviving Our Parched Wasteland

By Yap Kok Keong
Chairman
Malayan Christian School’s Council


As we look at our schools and Malaysian society at large today, we cannot help but feel that something is very wrong with our education system.

The noble aspiration of the Falsafah Pendidikan (Education Philosophy), which was supposed to have guided the development of education in Malaysia for the last 14 years "…to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God…", hangs mournfully on the walls, school halls and corridors, mockingly reminding one and all how far short our schools have missed the mark.


Who would be salt and light in our schools and to our children in the most crucial years of their life? Who would bring love back to our schools? Should we just stay on the sidelines and complain?

Rather, should we not give of our best sons and daughters to redeem and reclaim a wasteland and, with God's help, turn at least portions of it into vineyards again? Christians have always believed in the importance of the role of schools and teachers in the moral, intellectual, spiritual, emotional and physical formation of children and young people who will one day be parents and responsible citizens who in turn will determine the fate of the country.

Over the course of 150 years of Christian involvement in education in our nation, tens of thousands of children and young people across four generations have not only received knowledge but also come to know right and wrong, truth, justice, kindness and compassion.

Today, there are still 229 capital-assisted mission schools: 145 primary and 84 secondary schools nominally under the care of mission boards. Some of these mission schools, despite all odds, have still retained their reputation as the foremost institutions of learning in our land.

However, many are a mere shadow of their past glory. There are many reasons for this sad state of affairs. There are less and less members of the alumni who will come forward to support the mission school which laid the sound foundation in their life and set them on the road to success.

Many have moved away from their hometown. Mission boards have difficulty in finding committed Christian leaders in the local community to be members of school board. Nowadays, looking for good Christian school heads is like looking for pearls on an ocean floor.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the handful of Christian teachers senior enough to be appointed as heads of mission schools are opting for early retirement and fewer and fewer Christian young people are joining the teaching profession.

To many Christians, it is just another job, a profession without glamour, a career without prospect, not to mention the tough conditions in our schools and the perceived mismanagement and injustice in the system.

Teaching is a calling for Christians. Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, was a teacher. Christians have always been challenged to imitate His life. Over the course of a teaching life of 28 to 30 years, a teacher would have had the privilege to shape thousands of lives and perhaps touch the lives of some for eternity.

What children and young people of every generation really need, more so perhaps this generation, is not just knowledge but help to find meaning and direction in life.

They cry out for teachers who really care, who will give them back a sense of self-worth, who will walk that extra mile to help them grow in kindness and compassion, in understanding, justice and love; and who will hold out faith and hope to them in a harsh, materialistic and fiercely competitive world. Because we have Christ, we have so much to offer the needy children and young people of our land.

The lonely call of God to the ancient prophet, "Who will go for me? Whom can I send?" as His heart goes out to a people lost, should echo again in every Christian's heart.

Such a call must now resound from our pulpits and our homes, energetically taken up by youth pastors and leaders and laid before Christian young people. Teaching is a worthy vocation, a fulfilling option in the service of God and mankind.

 



[ Back ] [ Print Friendly ]