Sabah to form panel for Chinese school affairs

KOTA KINABALU, July 7 — Sabah Education Director Datuk Dr Muhiddin Yusin last night announced that a Chinese school affairs committee would be set up in Sabah to promote understanding and harmony.

He said the committee would comprise all the zone chairmen of the Council of Headmasters of Chinese Schools and would be supervised by the schools’ managements.

The committee would be a platform for discussing issues arising from misunderstanding of government policies, he said at a Parents Day dinner and state-level Chinese Essay-Writing Competition prize presentation, here.

“The committee may meet twice or thrice a year to share views and ideas in order to handle issues which crop up from time to time,” he added.

Muhiddin said the State Education Department was implementing activities such as Bahasa Malaysia carnival, lecture competitions, Bahasa Malaysia and English writing tests, and pedagogy and efficiency courses for teachers.

These programmes were in line with the government’s vision to uphold Bahasa Malaysia and strengthen the English language, he added.

However, he said, the success of any activity was dependent on the close co-operation and synergy between the Education Department and other agencies, including non-governmental organisations like the Federation of Chinese Associations of Sabah. — Bernama