COMMENT Newly-minted Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is not the first one to ask for the removal of vernacular schools and he is not going to be the last one either.

In fact, many have raised the issue of vernacular schools in the past as something inconsistent with the larger aim of national unity in the country. Those who are opposing the vernacular schools are, at the same time, advocating the pursuance of a single-stream education policy.