KUALA LUMPUR – DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has questioned why government schools can’t follow in the footsteps of two elite schools’ decision to ignore the Education Ministry’s directive to have one mandatory non-Dual Language Programme (DLP) class in the syllabus.
Referring to a letter by Parent Action Group for Education (Page) Malaysia chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, Guan Eng also said the Education Ministry has yet to clarify as to why these elite schools were allowed to ignore Clause 12.2.8 of the new DLP guidelines.
He said the guidelines require that Primary One and Form One classes have one non-DLP class teaching math and science in Bahasa Melayu, regardless of parental preference.
However, the two schools, Malay College Kuala Kangsar (the alma mater of the prime minister) and Tunku Kurshiah College (the alma mater of the prime minister’s wife), were exempt from the new rule.
In a statement, Guan Eng said, “So far, the Education Ministry has neither confirmed nor denied what Azimah said (on the elite schools).
“In the letter, Azimah also said that the new guidelines explicitly exclude Sarawak. It has exclusively allowed all of the state’s primary schools to conduct DLP in full since 2020, which means that the medium of instruction for all science and mathematics classes is the English language,” he added.
She also said that the Education Ministry had no plans to allocate additional funds for DLP in other states, based on an April report.
“Few would begrudge the permission and special funding of RM18 million granted by the Education Ministry to Sarawak to conduct DLP classes in English for science and maths, as part of some degree of autonomy granted pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“What would raise eyebrows are Noor Azimah’s revelations that two elite schools in Peninsular Malaysia producing the cream of the Malay government and corporate world intend to ignore the latest directive from the Education Ministry and conduct DLP classes in English for maths and science,” he said.
Guan Eng also asked if schools in the peninsula could also apply to the ministry to forgo the new DLP rule.
“Fair play and a level playing field can only lead to a rational and logical conclusion,” he said. – June 10, 2024