I have to agree with Rajan's letter entitled Politicians benefit from Tamil schools .

I myself was born in an estate somewhere near Sg Gadut, Negeri Sembilan and went to the estate's Tamil school. When we finished our Standard Six, there were about 30 pupils in my class who went on to national-type secondary school.

From there, only about five went on to Form Four. None reached university level. I was lucky because my neighbour in the estate during my childhood was a Malay family. So I was fortunate to be able to pick up Bahasa Malaysia which helped me pass my SPM.

I studied in a private college part-time and finished my higher diploma in computer science and am now working as a support engineer in Kuala Lumpur. The rest of my batch are all doing petty jobs in my home town.

I find there are two things that have stopped my schoolmates from getting a good education. One is their poor mastery of Bahasa Malaysia and the other is the attitude of their parents.

Without a proficiency in the Malay language, most of my classmates were hindered from furthering their education at the secondary schools. The second factor is their parents who are ignorant of the changes taking place in the world.

The world is changing but we Indians in Malaysia are very ignorant and stubborn. We always like to think we know it all. We don't understand the difference between a discussion and a argument. Most of the Indians that I speak to always seem to know what is right.

I have frequently advised parents from the lower-income group on their children's education but they always seems to know what is best for their child although they themselves have failed to achieve those standards.

It all goes back to Indian politicians advising the community to keep our Tamils schools and protect them. Protect them? Is there a war going on?

As far as education is concerned we must send our children to where is appropriate. If you are a parent who can speak English and Malay and are staying in a multi-racial environment, then it is okay to send your child to a Tamil school.

The child will not be disadvantaged as he or she will pick up English and Bahasa Malaysia from his parent and neighbourhood friends.

But for those living in the estates, there is a dire need for them to learn other languages than Tamil to enable them to further their studies. Tamil alone is not enough.

In conclusion, it is important that Indians realise that their children need to master the main languages needed for a good education, In Malaysia, those languages are English and Bahasa Malaysia.

Make our children master these languages and then we can sit back and see how the Indians in Malaysia progress.