Malaysia to push Mandarin, Tamil in schools
Malaysia to push Mandarin, Tamil in schools
Public schools in Malaysia will soon offer minority languages
Mandarin and Tamil as elective subjects in addition to the
national Malay language in a new attempt to integrate this
multiethnic country, the prime minister said.
The move is part of the government's effort to woo the Chinese
and Indian communities, who are unable to learn their mother
tongues in national schools where only Bahasa Malayu, the
language of the majority Malays, is taught, Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said recently.
"We should be learning the languages of other races in line
with today's needs," he said.
Race relations have long been a sensitive issue in
multicultural Malaysia, although ethnic enmity is rare in this
Southeast Asian nation, which prides itself on racial harmony and
tolerance.
In addition to the government-funded national schools, there
are over 1,200 schools for ethnic Chinese that teach mainly in
Mandarin and are funded mostly by community donations. Indians
also have more than 500 of their own schools that teach mainly in
Tamil, but they have little funding and are poorly run.
Most Indian and Chinese parents send their children to schools
run by their communities. Some national schools do offer classes
in their language - called "Pupil's Own Language," or POL -
provided there are a minimum of 15 students to a class.
This stipulation will be waived once the new policy comes into
affect, Abdullah said. No timeframe has been set because it will
take time to recruit qualified teachers, he said.
Abdullah said the term POL will be eliminated.
"This is because when we say POL, it implies that non-Chinese
pupils (for example) need not learn Mandarin because it is not
their own language," he said, noting that Chinese was gaining
importance worldwide with the emergence of China as an economic
and political powerhouse.
Also Bahasa Malayu will remain the medium of instruction in
all national schools for all subjects except science and
mathematics, which are taught in English, he said. But the
government will find a method to enable teachers to explain the
two subjects in Bahasa Malayu, he said.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 25 million people are Malays
while ethnic Chinese comprise a quarter of the population. Ethnic
Indians, who speak a variety of languages including Tamil,
Malayalam and Punjabi, constitute less than 10 percent.
The new education policy comes in the wake of demands by the
Malaysian Chinese Association, the second-largest party in the
ruling National Front coalition, that the government should allow
more Chinese schools to be established to ease overcrowding. --
Associated Press