EDUCATION Minister Fadhlina Sidek said her ministry was committed to upholding the importance of the national language and strengthening English proficiency.
She said the controversial Dual Language Programme (DLP) was part of the Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the Command of English Language policy.
Field visits showed that there are students in schools that implemented the DLP who did not have basic proficiency in Malay and their mother tongues.
“Therefore, schools that agree to implement DLP must ensure that all criteria are met, including mastering the Malay language. At the same time, proficiency of the mother languages must be preserved in vernacular schools,” she said in a statement today.
Fadhlina said based on the Education Ministry’s 2021 DLP Implementation Guidelines dated November 26, 2020, schools implementing DLP needed to ensure opportunities for other students to learn Science and Mathematics in the national language or mother tongues were not affected.
Fadhlina said the management of DLP is through the respective State Education Departments (JPN) and schools have been given permission to open more than one DLP class for standard one and Form One students based on the school’s readiness and assessment by the District Education Office and JPN.
She said DLP implementation was subject to the ministry’s decision to allow existing groups of students to continue DLP classes, according to individual school cases.
However, she added that schools must comply with existing guidelines for the new group of standard one and Form One students in the 2024/2025 session. – Bernama, December 21, 2023.
