Chinese educationist groups okay with khat implementation

Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching (centre) with representatives of Dong Zong and Jiao Dong and 10 other Chinese and Indian-interest groups at her ministry at Putrajaya today.

PUTRAJAYA: In a change of stance, Chinese educationist groups Dong Zong and Jiao Dong today welcomed the government’s move to introduce a chapter on the Malay-Arabic calligraphy of khat in the Year 4 Bahasa Melayu syllabus in vernacular schools next year.

Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching said the consensual decision was reached after a meeting with Dong Zong and Jiao Dong and 10 other Chinese and Indian-interest groups.

“This is the stand of the NGOs. We at the education ministry agree (with their stand),” Teo told a press conference at her ministry after the meeting this afternoon.

She said the groups also welcomed the proposal that students will not be tested on khat.

Teo said, however, the groups did not agree with the teaching of Jawi in vernacular schools.

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