KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 - Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong (picture) has denied that the ministry has directed Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) not to discuss matters opposing education policies.
"This is a non-issue, after all we want to improve the performance of the schools, so I don't see any problem," Wee told reporters in Parliament today.
"If they have some good suggestions, they want to put forward to the ministry they are welcomed," he added.
However, Wee said, opposition to the government policies should not lead to any working problem with the ministry.
"Their role is to complement what the schools have been doing. I think if they want to do extra activities to improve the [education] of the students, I think by all means they can do it," said Wee.
"I do not think all these while they have been talking about things that are out of the policies," he added.
The Kuala Lumpur Education Department director Mohd Adenan Deraman had reportedly warned school principals to ensure that PTA meetings do not discuss matters that oppose its policies.
“This is a message from the ministry. PTA meetings should not be used as a platform to discuss matters opposing the government’s policies,” Adenan reportedly said.
Adenan added that the ministry had received information that the Teaching of Science and Maths in English (better known as PPSMI) policy is part of the PTA meetings’ agenda in several schools, adding it should not be discussed as the Cabinet had made its decision on the matter.
The cabinet had in July last year approved the Education Ministry’s proposal to abolish PPSMI, reverting to Bahasa Malaysia and vernacular languages in phases, effective 2012.
With this policy in place national schools will return to teaching science and mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia, while Chinese and Tamil schools will employ their respective vernacular languages.
The change, however, will not include matriculation, Form Six and university levels.
The government will also recruit an additional 13,933 English teachers in addition to the current force of 19,433 English teachers.
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