KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 ― The Perlis state education department has issued a written survey to parents of Primary Four students in vernacular schools for their views on the teaching of the Jawi script module in the Bahasa Melayu subject, a report has said.
Local daily Sin Chew Daily said the department had in a December 12 meeting with all 11 vernacular primary schools in the state ― 10 SJKC and 1 SJKT using Chinese and Tamil respectively as the main medium of instruction ― provided them with a circular on the teaching of the module in vernacular schools as well as the survey form.
The survey form, which was only available in Malay, must be filled up within 14 days. This meant parents must return the forms before January 16 to schools, Sin Chew Daily said.
Sin Chew Daily said the survey form details to be filled up include the school's name, student's name, parent's or guardian's name, date, indication of agreement or disagreement with the teaching of the module, as well as parents or guardian's signature.
Sin Chew Daily said the school board of all 10 SJKC schools in Perlis have already indicated their rejection of the teaching of the Jawi module, but noted that some of the SJKC schools had during registration day on December 31 already provided explanations about the module to Primary Four students' parents and released the survey forms to them.
The news report said most of the SJKC schools in Perlis have a student population mainly composed of ethnic Chinese students, with the exception of the SJKC Kong Aik where ethnic Malay students form a bigger portion of the student population and which will be issuing the survey forms to parents when school reopens tomorrow.
Sin Chew Daily also said that the Jawi module is the fourth module in the Malay Language subject for Primary Four students in vernacular schools, and said that any teaching of such a module is expected to start from around April or May.
The introduction of the Jawi script module for Primary Four students had met with opposition, particularly from Chinese educationist group Dong Jiao Zong and other Chinese groups which had on December 29 decided to push for respective vernacular school boards to be allowed to decide whether the module would be taught while also accepting the teaching of Jawi in a multicultural context.
In August, the Education Ministry confirmed that it would still introduce the calligraphy as part of the Bahasa Melayu Year Four subject next year as scheduled.
The Education Ministry deputy director-general Habibah Abdul Rahim had last December 27 explained that the Jawi lessons in Primary Four, Five and Six next year will only feature three pages in textbooks for each year, and is meant to teach students about national heritage and artistic beauty of the Jawi script for Bahasa Melayu that has been used on everyday items.
Habibah had said the Primary Four module will feature stamps, banknotes and the national seal which contains the “Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu” wording, while Primary Five students will learn about the national monument, road signs and the word “halal”.
The Jawi module for Primary Six students would be on Hari Raya greeting cards, university signs and historical artefacts.
