KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today that vernacular schools will continue existing as long as the Chinese and Tamil communities need them.
The government’s commitment to vernacular schools is a rebuff to the proposal made by Umno Youth chief candidate Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir for such schools to be abolished.
Najib’s quick response is seen as a move to bring to an end the controversy sparked by the proposal.
The proposal has drawn flak from both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders who have accused Mukhriz of trying to appeal to extremist elements as part of his election campaign.
Both the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Velly have said Mukhriz’s remarks were seditious.Najib said today the government’s stand is in accordance with the policies contained in the 1956 Razak Report on education.
The report states that all Malaysians should have a right of choice when it comes to the education stream, Bernama quoted Najib as saying.
He said an amendment to the Education Act in 1996 had made Chinese and Tamil national type schools a part of the national education system and, as such, the existence of these schools was provided for in law.
“Our policy is one that allows every individual to choose the schooling system that he or she wishes to have.
“We have also given our commitment that these schools will continue to exist as part of the national education system so long as they are needed by the Chinese and Indian communities,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting of the National Council for Local Government.
Najib said that Chinese and Tamil national type schools played an important role for the Chinese and Indians because they were the main medium for them to instil positive and useful values in the lives of their children, respectively
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