KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — The Education Ministry should review the racial segregation of candidates applying to the Institute of Teacher Education (IPGM) to promote harmony, said the Malaysia Muslim Teachers Coalition (i-Guru).

Berita Harian reported i-Guru president Mohd Azizee Hasan as saying this was necessary as the segregation for some subjects was not in line with the country’s education philosophy.

“Isolating races according to certain subjects, particularly in vernacular schools, which are offered to potential teachers in the five years of study at IPGM will retard national integration and unity efforts,” he said in a statement.

He said his group was proposing this as teachers were responsible for social integration via education, adding that the suggestion would also lead to lower placement costs of trainees.

Citing his group’s study, he said some programmes did not need segregation regardless of whether the trainee is intended for national schools or vernacular ones.

“For example the Bahasa Melayu subject should take teaching candidates with high skills and someone who is a native speaker (penutur jati) so as to augment and strengthen the learning of the language.

“Likewise i-Guru also recommends the undergraduate degree programme for Physical Education does not need to be separated and isolated among national schools, Chinese schools, and Tamil schools,” he said.

The group also recommended that the placement of science and maths teachers should not be by school type, as they can be combined under one course and placed in any school.