He estimated that the effects of this inequality would still be felt well into the next decade to come, thus undermining the federal government’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.

“In neglecting this principle, the government is also neglecting the best interests of our students,” he said. “Yet another rift to divide our people.”

Among the inequalities he was referring to included the difference in access to education between the poor and the rich, and between the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak.

At a forum, he said he was worried that without radical intervention in place it would be difficult to rectify this inequality.

“To achieve SPV 2030, Malaysia needs to develop holistically on all fronts,” he said. “That means building a fair economy to provide all Malaysians with a decent living by 2030.”

He said that as long as students’ concerns are not handled seriously, these concerns will fester and compromise the nation’s peace.

This includes bridging the yawning economic gap between the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak.

“Education for all means no one gets left behind,” he said. “We must commit to a resolution if we want to make a lasting change.”

Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has also urged the government to prioritise the vaccination of teachers and school staff to address the gap between the poor and the rich.

“Poor families don’t have the means to help their children keep up with online education,” he said. “Going to school is their only option, but they risk putting themselves, their friends, and their teachers at risk.”

He said it was well within reason to prioritise educators and students as frontliners for the vaccines.

The matter was among five proposals submitted by seven opposition MPs in a joint statement following the education ministry’s announcement on the reopening of school sessions scheduled to begin in early March.

Syed Saddiq said the time has come to address the nation’s education crisis by vaccinating frontliners in education.