Unhappy with the latest teaching guidelines for the Jawi script lessons, Chinese educational groups Dong Zong and Jiao Zong (Dong Jiao Zong) will hold a Chinese Organisation Congress.
The aim of the congress is to convince the government to cancel the lessons in vernacular schools.
Dong Zong’s chairperson Tan Tai Kim said that the congress will be held on 28th December, at the Dong Jiao Zong building in Kajang.
He hoped that the congress can raise the voice of the Chinese community and urge the government to listen to public opinion.
Tan criticised the latest guidelines which gives power to parents to make the decision to introduce the Jawi script lessons.
He said this will ruin the harmonious relationship among parents from different ethnics in Chinese primary schools and disregard the managing rights of the school board.
In a press conference held in Kajang today, Tan stressed that Dong Jiao Zong will not accept, approve or implement the Jawi script lesson’s guidelines which were released by the Education Ministry (MOE) last Thursday.
He reiterated that the school board should be one of the decision-makers in this matter and worried that this precedent will result in the school board’s losing its sovereignty to manage the school.
Guideline released by MOE last week
Under the latest guidelines, Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) has to distribute a form to the parents, to ask if they agreed to introduce the Jawi script lessons to the Year 4 students next year. The form has to be returned to PTA within 14 days.
PTA will then calculate the results and reports them to the headmaster of the school.
If more than 51 percent of parents agree, then the Jawi script lessons will be introduced to year 4 students of the school next year, or vice versa.
If a school doesn't have a PTA, then the school authorities will distribute the form.
The school will be considered to agree to introduce the Jawi script lessons if the form were not given to the parents.
However, Tan today urged MOE to retract the guidelines immediately.
“Dong Jiao Zong insists that the school board must have the power of making decisions and the Ministry of Education must immediately withdraw the guideline,” said Tan.
He also asked the PTA to return the guidelines to the MOE and start a petition against the introduction of Jawi script lessons.
In August, the government drew flak for announcing the introduction of khat (Jawi calligraphy) for Year 4 vernacular school pupils next year.
Later, the government decided to reduce the Jawi script lessons from six pages to three pages and announced that it would only be implemented with the agreement of the PTA and other parents.
Turn PTA into an ‘enforcement tool’
However, the educational groups were not happy that the school boards were not listed as decision-makers in the implementation of teaching Jawi script lessons.
In Sabah and Sarawak, some of the schools do not have PTAs.
The groups had expressed their opinions to Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching, in a closed-door dialogue held in August.
Yesterday, in a statement, Dong Jiao Zong said the latest guidelines released are not consistent with the dialogue they had with her in August.
The statement said in the meeting, Teo had agreed that the Jawi script lessons will only be introduced if the PTA, parents, and students agree to do so.
In other words, if one of them disagrees, then the school will not be able to introduce the lessons to students.
Hence, Dong Jiao Zong further criticised the new guidelines which has turned the PTA, which represents parents and teachers, into an "enforcement tool" for gathering opinions. - Mkini
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