Letter to Editor
PAGE is elated that Penang has finally risen to the occasion as far as the Dual Language Programme (DLP) is concerned.
However, be forewarned, as other parents in Sabah, Johor, Kuala Lumpur and Melaka have been earlier duped by their respective state education departments to believe that they are listening to us and will act upon our requests.
Unfortunately, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has no intention of retracting her regretful and grave decision to impose the mandatory one non-DLP class which would be most embarrassing to her political career.
The Education Ministry (MOE) released the so-called new and improved DLP guidelines or Surat Pekeliling Ikhtisas (SPI) Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM) Bilangan (Bil.) 5 Tahun 2024: Garis Panduan Pelaksanaan DLP dated March 19 2024 which has superseded all earlier guidelines.
Clause 12.2.8 has been added to the new guidelines dictating that Year One and Form One must have one mandatory non-DLP class.
Whether or not a parent desires it for their child is irrelevant. The parents’ wish which is in the spirit of DLP has been blatantly ignored and quashed. The minister’s wish overrides all others.
Two elite schools namely the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (the alma mater of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and Tunku Kurshiah College (the alma mater of the prime minister’s wife) intend to ignore clause 12.2.8 and proceed with status quo as it has been from the start.
The new guidelines explicitly exclude Sarawak which gets to maintain its SPI KPM Bil. 7 Tahun 2019: Pelaksanaan DLP Sarawak Mulai Tahun 2020.
It exclusively allows all its primary schools to conduct DLP in full since 2020 which means that the medium of instruction of all Science and Mathematics classes are in the English language.
It is the only state where the Education Department of Sarawak – with the full support of the Sarawak Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) Ministry – has permission from the MOE to do so.
In March 2024, it was reported that the MOE “has confirmed there are no plans to allocate more funds to conduct the DLP in the future”.
MEITD, however, in April 2024 revealed that Sarawak had been given a budget of RM18 mil for DLP. It appears now that Sabah and the Peninsula were not budgeted for DLP and parents have been held ransom.
While Sarawak has capitalised on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) as regards independence in education, Sabah has taken a more conservative stance. Peninsula is now the stepchild. The workforce needs to be industry-ready and the time is now.
MADANI is the Malay acronym for SCRIPT which stands for Sustainability, Care and Compassion, Respect, Innovation, Prosperity and Trust.
The Education Minister would do well to reflect on what has transpired during her watch with regards to the English language and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
DLP will Sustain if Fadhlina emulates Sarawak, show Care and Compassion to our children, show Respect to parents and enhance Innovation in Science.
On top of that, Malaysia will gain Prosperity when students are proficient in STEM in English and gain Trust from parents when they see that the country has our children in her best interests.
Sarawak has truly embraced and elevated MADANI to a higher level unlike Sabah and Peninsula where the education minister merely pays lip service. Aren’t we all Malaysians after all? – June 10, 2024
Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim is the chairperson of the Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE), an educational lobbyist that serves as a channel between concerned parents, the Education Ministry and other educational stakeholders.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
