DEC 5 — The Standard Six Bahasa Malaysia textbooks delivered to some Chinese primary schools in Pahang and Melaka are found to be the same as those used in national primary schools.
Educationists are concerned that the education ministry is trying to standardise BM textbooks for all primary schools in the country.
According to deputy education minister Chong Sin Woon, this could be just an administrative issue. He said although there had been proposal to standardise BM textbooks for all primary schools in the country, the cabinet had decided not to do so. Unfortunately, he said the education ministry had only prepared one single version of BM textbooks for delivery to all schools.
Since the version for national-type primary schools have yet to be printed, some Chinese primary schools are compelled to temporarily use the BM textbooks for national schools, and this is poised to affect the teaching at the schools involved, and could have negative effects on the students’ motivation to learn.
It is imperative for the education ministry to rectify this problem as soon as possible in order not to impede the progress of the students’ study.
This incident has created some waves in the Chinese community because Chinese Malaysians are generally cautious about the authorities’ continuous attempts in recent years to standardise BM textbooks. It is therefore essential for the authorities to display more sincerity in order to dispel such fears.
We have to reiterate here that the BM textbooks for national and national-type primary schools should not be standardised at all costs owing to differing linguistic environments.
The government’s attempt to elevate the BM standard of Chinese primary school students by way of standardising their textbooks simply will not work.
To be honest, it is both unjustified and unfair to demand that Chinese primary school students command the same level of BM proficiency as national school students. Lest we forget, BM is used as the teaching medium at national primary schools while Mandarin Chinese is the medium of teaching at Chinese primary schools. If we were to standardise the textbooks by force without taking into consideration the dissimilarities between different language streams, our children will be the ones to suffer eventually.
All education reforms or policies must not be adopted in contrary to the fundamental principles of teaching. To lift the BM standard at Chinese primary schools, perhaps the government should consider the unique characteristics of Chinese primary schools and adopt appropriate and effective methods to achieve this goal. While Chinese educationists are against the standardization of textbooks, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to improve the BM standard at Chinese primary schools.
The education ministry can do this by reinforcing the quality of teachers, the content of teaching materials and overall teaching environment. Such progressive approach should be more effective than squarely standardising the BM textbooks.
In short, standardising textbooks is not the right solution to elevate the BM standard of Chinese primary school students.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
