[lg policy] Malaysia: Parent Action Group of Education (Page) submits memorandum on school language policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Page submits memorandum on school language policy

PUTRAJAYA: The Parent Action Group of Education (Page) has submitted
its third memorandum to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak,
repeating its call that all national schools be given the option to
continue teaching Science and Mathematics in English. The group in its
memorandum proposed that a school be categorised as Sekolah Kebangsaan
(SK) or Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) should 70% of parents choose
Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for both subjects while
schools with 70% of parents opting for English be categorised as SK or
SMK 1Malaysia.

Page chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said in the event 31% to
69% of parents chose Bahasa Malaysia or English, the schools should
offer the subjects in both languages, with an equal number of classes
being made available. “We hope that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet
will give our request due consideration. “We realise the Government
has already decided that the two subjects be taught in Bahasa Malaysia
but they should consider the people first,” she said after about 40
parents from the group submitted the memorandum to the Prime
Minister’s senior private secretary Muhammad Ammir Haron.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had announced that the
Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (known by its Malay
acronym PPSMI) would be scrapped from 2012. Students in national
schools will revert to learning the two subjects in Bahasa Malaysia,
while vernacular schools will teach them in their respective mother
tongues.

PPSMI was introduced in 2003, when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime
Minister, with the aim of improving students’ mastery of Science and
Mathematics Noor Azimah said under the Education Act, a child should
be educated according to the wishes of his parents and not that of
teachers or political groups. The group also submitted a petition in
support of PPSMI with 10,000 signatures.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/20/nation/7831166&sec=nation

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal,
and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.
 A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list