“Let our children have an education that is constructive and useful in life, which contributes to the development of the Malays, both mentally as well as in terms of good values,” he said.
“We should not be intimidated by those who talk about the afterlife only because our life on this earth is also equally important,” he said in a blog article posted yesterday.
He said parents who send their children to tahfiz schools, which teach memorisation and recitation of the Quran, think that by making such a choice there would be a reward waiting in the afterlife.
Malays needed to have abilities other than memorising the Quran so that they could be useful in the real world, he said.
“First of all, memorising is only one aspect of the human mind,” he said, adding that not everyone has the aptitude to memorise well.
Zaid, who joined DAP on Feb 7, said many children do not have the knack for rote but have other strengths, such as cognitive reasoning and lateral thinking.
“Although they may be weak in learning by heart, they may have extraordinary abilities in innovation and other aspects,” he said.
He also cautioned against imposing heavy discipline in schools.
“Discipline is very necessary in our life,” he said. “But disciple à la the military is only good for the military forces, but not necessarily in learning and education at schools.
“Fearful discipline is not true discipline.”
He also said the authorities must thoroughly check the backgrounds of headmasters and teachers before appointing them to supervise students.
On April 26, Thaqif Amin Mohd Gaddafi, 11, died after being severely beaten at a tahfiz school in Kota Tinggi, Johor, where he was enrolled as a boarder.
A 29-year old assistant warden, reported to be an ex-convict, was arrested on April 22, and his remand extended to May 3.
Thaqif had both his legs amputated due to the injuries he sustained, before he slipped into a coma at the Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor Bahru.
He was scheduled to have his right arm amputated as well, but died before this could be done.