KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 — Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today expressed support for a compulsory third language subject such as Mandarin or Tamil to be taught in national schools.
Muhyiddin, who is also Umno deputy president, said this policy would require 30,000 language teachers for the 10,000 schools currently in operation across Malaysia.
“Hopefully, with your support, new positions can be created and we can implement this new policy,” Muhyiddin said in his closing remarks at Umno’s annual general assembly.
A few Umno delegates have proposed at the general assembly that Mandarin and Tamil be made compulsory elective subjects in national schools in a bid to move towards single-stream education.
Controversy over vernacular schools erupted earlier this year when Petaling Jaya Utara Umno deputy division chief Mohamad Azli Mohamed proposed to discuss abolishing Chinese-medium schools at the party’s general assembly, claiming the schools are hotbeds for racism and anti-establishment sentiments.
However, Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced during his 2015 Budget speech that Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools have been allocated RM50 billion each, a move that is seen to ensure that the schools are here to stay.
On October 12, Najib also told MCA members at its 61st AGM that his government will continue to uphold the right to mother tongue education, saying that Chinese vernacular schools or SJK (C) are “already enshrined in the Constitution and the law” and part of the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025.
