JOHOR BARU, July 14 — Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik proposes that schools should have two days in a week where only Bahasa Malaysia or English is used to help students improve their language skills.

Maszlee said this practice should be extended to national schools, private schools, government-aided schools or national-type schools by selecting a specific day of the week, namely one day for each language.

Students and teachers will have to use that one language the whole day at school and must include Malay literature; it is very important to uphold the national language.

"In celebrating diversity and the new era, students should also be encouraged to take up a third or fourth language,” he said.

He said this when officiating the ‘Sireh Pulang ke Gagang’ event at Sekolah Kebangsaan Temenggong Abdul Rahman 2 (STAR2), here, today.

Maszlee, a former STAR2 student from 1981 to 1986, said the proposal would be discussed with relevant parties.

At the same time, he wants teachers who are not proud of teaching in primary schools preferring to teach in secondary schools to rid themselves of the misconception.

"In Finland, the world’s number one provider of quality education, the best teachers are sent to primary schools to mould the personal development of their pupils and develop their language skills from an early stage.

"Today, teachers do not want to teach in primary schools, all want to go to secondary schools, especially teachers who have degrees,” he said.

The Simpang Renggam MP, also wants the Chinese community in the state to improve their mastery of the national language.

Thus, he said the involvement of students via integrated programmes with various schools should be held to enable them to mingle from childhood. — Bernama