Abdul Razak, Dzulkifli
(2019)
Eduphobia – an emerging business?
The Sun Daily, 19 February 2019.
Abstract
I READ a book recently that alleges Islamophobia is now a new “business”. There is money to be made by “selling” Islamophobia through literature, talk shows, conferences and the like. There are markets for people who will never get tired speaking about it and hearing of the same. And then get worked up depending on how paranoid they are. This, however, is good for the organisers bent on feeding the frenzy and exploiting such emotions and situations while they laugh all the way to the bank.
Looking at developments, it is some kind of a deja vu that “education” is going down the same phobic path. Is “eduphobia” now an emerging business too? – in various disguises. There has been endless talk about it but to no avail. Rather it is becoming even more confusing with voices thrown in almost all directions. The latest seems to be the most telling where some 200 people apparently paid large sums of money to attend a “conversation” on education sponsored by a commercial outfit.
This contrasted starkly with the ministry’s public engagement programmes that had similar conversations on education policy issues and quality concepts moving forward. Here is the rub: they are free and moving from location to location to gather input through widespread participation from all walks of life. Not just from those who can afford to pay a hefty fee. It is also not a one-off money-making and publicity exercise; plus the programmes involve veterans known to care about education pro bono. That are just some of the major distinctions to note for those who are genuinely interested to contribute and share but have missed it until now.
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