SEPT 7 — The Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 will be officially launched today. And we shall know whether some provisions of its preliminary report affecting the development of Chinese education, particularly the Bahasa Malaysia learning time and syllabus for Chinese primary schools, and the abolition of remove classes, have been amended after perseverance petitions from Chinese groups.

To implement the education policy of “strengthening English while consolidating Bahasa Malaysia”, the government proposed to increase the Bahasa Malaysia learning time for Chinese and Tamil primary schools from 180 minutes to 270 minutes while the learning time for English is proposed to be increased only from 120 minutes to 150 minutes starting from 2014. There is a significant gap with the Chinese community’s proposal to increase the learning time to 210 minutes for both Bahasa Malaysia and English.

The government’s intention is to narrow the Bahasa Malaysia level gap between national schools and national-type schools, hoping to enhance Chinese school students’ ability to master the language, so that they can adapt to the learning environment of national secondary schools that use Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of teaching. However, the Chinese community is worried that excessive emphasis in learning Bahasa Malaysia in Chinese primary schools might affect the nature and characteristics of the schools. Although they have their own stands and rationale, there are also blind spots respectively.

The Education Ministry wishes to enhance Chinese school students’ Bahasa Malaysia skills but has not considered the problems faced by the schools, in terms of facility, teaching material, teaching method and teacher shortage. Bahasa Malaysia is considered a second language in Chinese primary schools and thus, its syllabus should be written according to the second language teaching outline. The standard of existing Bahasa Malaysia syllabus for national schools is so high and even some national school students are facing problems mastering it. If they insist that Chinese primary schools must use the textbooks used in national schools, it might not only unable to enhance Chinese school students’ Bahasa Malaysia skills, but bring an opposite effect instead. In other words, to achieve the goal, the key does not lies in increasing the language’s learning time, but many other elements must also be considered.

Meanwhile, the Chinese community indeed needs to defend its mother-tongue education. However, while opposing to the increase of Bahasa Malaysia learning time, it should also take realistic issues into account, instead of acting blindly and affects the competitiveness of the next generation.

To have a foothold in Malaysia, compete with other races, study in local universities, and apply for public service posts or fill any vacancies in the business sphere, mastering Bahasa Malaysia skills is the most basic requirement.

However, the level of Chinese school students have retrograded in recent years, as reflected by the generally declined UPSR average passing rate.

If Chinese school students fail to master Bahasa Malaysia, they would find it difficult to adapt when they move to national secondary schools and it is also one of the reasons causing the high dropout rate of Chinese students. According to the education Ministry, 26 of every 100 Chinese school students who furthered their studies in national secondary schools have failed to complete their secondary school education. These dropout students are not qualified even to apply for government vocational colleges, let alone having a bright future. It is a reality that the Chinese community must face. — www.mysinchew.com

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.