If national schools can be strengthened by introducing Tamil and Chinese, vernacular schools can be closed down.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: One Umno delegate thinks that he has found a way to do away with vernacular schools: make Tamil and Chinese compulsory in the Malay-medium national schools.
He did not say whether Malay students in national schools would be required to learn Tamil and Chinese as well.
It was vital for Putrajaya to strengthen national schools, said delegate Mustafa Musa, before it attempted to shut down Tamil and Chinese schools.
“Include the Tamil and Chinese languages in the curriculum of national schools and make it compulsory,” he said in giving his take on the policy speech by party president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. “We lose nothing in learning more to adapt to change.”
“If national schools are strengthened that way, completely equipped with computers, with Tamil and Chinese subjects, this is an alternative to the beginning of single-stream schools. And there will be no reason for anyone to say national schools are weak.”
So we strengthen our own schools, he stressed, “before we shut down other schools”.
Mustafa did not say in his speech whether it’s ever possible for Putrajaya, given its history of flip flops, to give iron-clad guarantees that the Tamil and Chinese languages in national schools would not be abolished once the vernacular schools are closed down.
He also did not touch on the arguments of Tamil and Chinese educationists that it’s a human and universal right for a child to be educated in his or her own mother-tongue. Having just Tamil and Chinese as subjects in national schools, and later doing away with vernacular schools, compromises this right.
Among the Chinese community in particular, Chinese schools reflect the importance of Chinese students having the Chinese character, the result of 4,000 years of recorded civilization.
Tamils point out that their language is 8,000 years old.
KUALA LUMPUR: One Umno delegate thinks that he has found a way to do away with vernacular schools: make Tamil and Chinese compulsory in the Malay-medium national schools.
He did not say whether Malay students in national schools would be required to learn Tamil and Chinese as well.
It was vital for Putrajaya to strengthen national schools, said delegate Mustafa Musa, before it attempted to shut down Tamil and Chinese schools.
“Include the Tamil and Chinese languages in the curriculum of national schools and make it compulsory,” he said in giving his take on the policy speech by party president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak. “We lose nothing in learning more to adapt to change.”
“If national schools are strengthened that way, completely equipped with computers, with Tamil and Chinese subjects, this is an alternative to the beginning of single-stream schools. And there will be no reason for anyone to say national schools are weak.”
So we strengthen our own schools, he stressed, “before we shut down other schools”.
Mustafa did not say in his speech whether it’s ever possible for Putrajaya, given its history of flip flops, to give iron-clad guarantees that the Tamil and Chinese languages in national schools would not be abolished once the vernacular schools are closed down.
He also did not touch on the arguments of Tamil and Chinese educationists that it’s a human and universal right for a child to be educated in his or her own mother-tongue. Having just Tamil and Chinese as subjects in national schools, and later doing away with vernacular schools, compromises this right.
Among the Chinese community in particular, Chinese schools reflect the importance of Chinese students having the Chinese character, the result of 4,000 years of recorded civilization.
Tamils point out that their language is 8,000 years old.
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