Unhappy with blueprint?, study abroad

Government will not be cowed by threats from Chinese groups in implementing the National Education Blueprint.

SHAH ALAM: Despite facing legal action from Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees Association), the Educational Ministry will continue with its plan to increase the teaching hours of Bahasa Malaysia in all schools as stated in the new Malaysian Education Blueprint launched by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Sept 6.

It was reported last week that Dong Zong and some other Chinese groups may take legal action against the Education Ministry, including holding peaceful rallies, should the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 remain detrimental to Chinese education.

According to a news report, Dong Zong president Yap Sian Tian was not optimistic with what is in store for primary Chinese schools, seeing it as a step to realise the government’s ultimate objective of implementing the monolingual education policy.

Speaking at an open dialogue forum this morning, Education Minister II Idris Jusoh said that his ministry will carry on with its plan and hinted that those who are not satisfied with the blueprint can send their kids overseas.

“We cannot please everyone, we have our own objective and we will continue to implement it. It is not my own decision before we come up with this blueprint; we have sat down with thousands of experts,”

“We have 12 years of plan. The national language should be used as a communication medium for everyone in this country,” he said.

English standard worrying

Meanwhile, Idris Jusoh admitted that the standard of English used by English teachers is still at a worrying level as only one third of them passed the Cambridge Placement Test last year.

“61,000 teachers sat for the CPT last year and only 20,000 of them passed the test,” he said.

“We are not trying to deny the fact. That is why now 5,000 have been retrained so that they can teach better and another 9,000 teachers will be retrained soon,” he added.

When asked whether the teachers would be sent abroad for TESL and TESOL, Idris said that the ministry cannot afford to send everyone as it faces limited ability.

“We cannot afford that. Majority of them will still be trained locally,” he stressed.