KUALA LUMPUR – The Education Ministry must resolve parents’ and students’ anxiety over changes to the dual-language programme (DLP) before the new school year begins in March, MCA Youth said.
Its secretary-general Saw Yee Fung said following the memorandum by the Parent Action Group for Education (Page) to 31 cabinet ministers last week on the matter, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek should now engage parents and civil society organisations to address these concerns.
“The abrupt plans by the Education Ministry to make changes to the DLP have stirred confusion among students, parents and teachers alike.
“The ministry needs to leverage on the existing time to resolve the issue before the commencement of the 2024/2025 school term in March,” Saw said in a statement.
In late November, Fadhlina announced that in the new school year, schools implementing DLP – which is the teaching of science and mathematics in English – should teach at least one non-DLP class in Malay or students’ mother tongues.
Last month, after complaints from parents and education groups, she explained that the move was made as the ministry found that some students in DLP schools are not mastering basic Malay or their mother tongues.
Full implementation of DLP is also only permitted in five schools in Kuala Lumpur, she added.
MCA Youth today said schools should be allowed the autonomy to decide if they should conduct DLP as originally intended, or adopt a non-DLP class.
“MCA’s position remains, that is, the MoE needs to retain the four original conditions to hold the DLP so that schools which qualify and are already teaching Mathematics and Science 100% entirely in English, should be allowed to continue doing so.
“Allow the schools which implement DLP in English for the teaching of Mathematics and Science to exercise their own discretion.
“To coerce the opening of at least one class to teach Mathematics and Science in the Malay language opens room for students to feel being discriminated against and an injustice as, what criteria will be used to identify and select students to switch to these classes?” Saw said.
Besides Page, more than 30 other organisations, including the Asian Strategic and Leadership Institute, the board of governors of Bukit Bintang Boys’ Secondary Schools, and the board of managers of Vivekananda Tamil School Brickfields, are also against the introduction of a non-DLP class in schools. – January 16, 2024