Vernacular education groups to meet on plans to introduce ‘khat’

Updated 6 years ago · Published on 2 Aug 2019 8:17PM · 3 Comments

Chinese and Indian education groups will meet on Monday over the government's plans to introduce Islamic calligraphy, or 'khat', in vernacular schools. – EPA pic, August 2, 2019.

CHINESE educationist groups Dong Zong and Jiao Zong will hold a meeting next Monday over plans to introduce “khat” or calligraphy art in the Year 4 Bahasa Malaysia curriculum for vernacular schools next year.

According to mysinchew.com.my, the meeting will be held in Dong Jiao Zong’s compound in Jalan Bukit, Kajang next Monday.

It will be attended by 10 education organisations from Chinese and Indian backgrounds.

The group said teaching khat would further burden students and teachers, and had nothing to do with mastering the national language.

Dong Zong and Jiao Zong have claimed that the khat is “not suitable” to be part of Bahasa Malaysia.

However, they said their opposition to introducing khat to students should not be seen as a refusal to celebrate the country’s various cultures and languages.

Khat will be introduced next year. According to Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching, this policy was decided in 2016 by the previous administration.

Of the 162 pages for the Bahasa Malaysia textbook, six pages will be dedicated to khat.

The move has also been met with resistance from a group of 138 DAP grassroots office bearers, including 13 state assemblymen, who want the DAP cabinet members to object to the plans to introduce khat in vernacular schools.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the group said vernacular school students are already learning “three languages and three writing systems”.

They said adding khat into the mix would make it “three languages and four writing systems”.

However, the Education Ministry in a statement yesterday explained that the introduction of khat was to foster beautiful writing.

It stressed that khat was not an effort to introduce Jawi scripts and students would not be not assessed on it in examinations. – August 2, 2019.

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Comments

  • teo nie ching. dont blame on previous corrupt govt. we voted you to right the wrong. ptui

    Posted 6 years ago by . . · Reply

  • Parents can teach their children a new subject called "Civil Disobedience". Since khat is not examinable for now, then children should just sit quietly in class when khat is being taught, and refuse to participate or submit any exercises or homework.

    Posted 6 years ago by Yoon Kok · Reply

  • Art is for the right people to appreciate, not a food to be fed into their mouths. Diarrhea you may get after eating the wrong food.

    Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply