By Santokh Singh

IT may be an innocent comment from an11-year-old but it was telling.

'You're so lucky' claimed my niece.

'My school is so unfair.'

She was responding to my daughter who had stated that her school held a Deepa Raya concert recently.

In my niece's school there are no celebrations for Hari Raya Puasa and Deepavali, only a Chinese New Year concert in February.

As a father, I ask myself if this is a case of a young child subtly learning about discrimination. Coincidentally, The New Paper received a letter from a 13-year-old studying in a neighbourhood school a day later.

The writer, a young Indian, claimed that he was ragged in class over his skin colour. His friends, he alleged, teased him constantly.

He said an Indian friend had a similar experience: 'During one of the music lessons in my friend's school, the teacher switched off all the lights so that the music video could be watched clearly and some classmates chanted, 'Where is ******? Where is ******??'

These incidents might well be done more out of schoolboy mischief than malice.

But it's different for the one targeted. If we feel it's an issue worth addressing, principals can take the lead in schools.

Timing of exams

The New Paper discovered there are some schools that are organising their final year examinations on the eve of Deepavali.

It was heartening to note that, when approached, some of these schools said they would consider shifting the exam dates, citing an oversight on their part. But there were others who did not see anything wrong.

Then, as I discussed the issue with some teacher friends, I heard of at least one school that organised a compulsory school activity on Saturday, the eve of Hari Raya Puasa. It is not known if the Muslim pupils were eventually excused.

Then there was the Ken Lim-Singapore Idol saga. His comments that contestant Malaque Mahdaly lacked quality but would make a good Vasantham Star certainly drew some strong responses.

This might well have prompted a group of non-Indian students to videotape a skit mimicking a trailer for the Indian programme.

Even Mr Lim thought the spoof 'was insensitive'.

But not the group who had the audacity to say that their skit was 'in fact a tribute to the Vasantham Star programme.'

Just like Ken, the group did not apologise, claiming they were paying a compliment.

We don't need to overreact to such insensitivities because most people are considerate and take some care when dealing with others not like themselves.

But when insensitive behaviour pops up, we must have some explanation to offer our young.

Explaining that it is actually a compliment would be stretching it, to say the least. It's better for us to explain the obvious discrepancies.

For example, explaining why a school can, not only celebrate Chinese New Year but also the Mid-Autumn Festival and yet, miss out on Hari Raya and Deepavali.

This article was first published in The New Paper.