DONG Zong, Jiao Zong and other Chinese education groups want vernacular school management boards, instead of parent-teacher associations (PTAs) to decide on the introduction of Jawi to year 4 pupils under the Bahasa Malaysia syllabus.

The groups today said they believe leaving the decision to PTAs and parents will create further problems and difficulties in the implementation process.

“If it is left to PTAs, parents and pupils, we feel this will be more problematic and raise difficulties, and thus won’t be implemented properly.

“Furthermore, many Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKCs) in Sabah and Sarawak do not have PTAs,” the groups said in a statement today.

“As it is, the members of school management boards at national-type (vernacular) schools already include representatives from the PTA and alumni.

“It is more appropriate that the decision be left to the school management board on whether to introduce Jawi writing,” they said.

The groups said they took a positive view of the cabinet’s latest decision announced on August 14 to make teaching khat calligraphy to Year 4 vernacular school pupils optional.

Khat was also renamed Jawi and reduced to three, instead of the original six pages, in the Bahasa Malaysia textbook.

However, the groups said if the intention of teaching BM in vernacular schools was for pupils to improve themselves in the national language, then teaching Jawi writing did not meet this objective.

“Therefore, we don’t agree that national-type school pupils learn Jawi writing, as it does not help them in improving their grasp of Bahasa Malaysia.

“It is sufficient to introduce Jawi to them as type of writing.”

The groups said the cabinet’s decision overall showed that the government had been sensitive to the concerns of non-Muslims and that renaming khat to Jawi had helped in easing suspicions of Islamisation.

This is because Jawi is already taught in the Year 5 BM syllabus in vernacular schools and is familiar to all.

They also urged the Education Ministry to publicise the standard curriculum and assessment document (DSKP) on teaching BM in vernacular schools, as well as the BM textbook, so that the public understand how Jawi is taught.

Besides Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia), the other groups that signed the statement are: Jiao Zong (United Chinese School Teachers’ Association), Hua Zong (Malaysian Chinese Schools Alumni Association), the Malaysia Association of Taiwan University Alumni, Merdeka University Bhd, LLG Cultural Development Center, Majlis Bahasa Cina Malaysia and the Association of Graduates from Universities and Colleges of China, Malaysia. – August 20, 2019.