UNCERTAINTY over the fate of the dual language programme (DLP), which is supposed to improve English proficiency among pupils, has left teachers and parents in a lurch.

The Star reported that parents had been informed by teachers that the programme had been shelved – a development that the Education Ministry declined to confirm or deny when contacted.

Parent A Vijayesvaran, 39, said the Selangor Education Department had told him the programme at SJK (T) Vivekanda would be postponed.

“We were told that it was postponed because of a suit against the ex-headmistress and ministry,” he said.

A coalition of Malaysian Indian NGOs in February last year had demanded that the Education Ministry remove the dual language programme in 47 Tamil schools.

“All we want is a clear explanation,” said Hanim, mother of two who had heard from a teacher in Kuala Lumpur that her Year Four daughter would be taught in Malay.

Noor Azalina Arshad said the headmaster of her daughter’s school would go ahead with the programme as the ministry had not officially notified the schools of a postponement.

“But what if a circular (to postpone the programme) arrives next month?” said the worried mother.

She said she would have moved to the city so that her Year One daughter could attend an international school if she had known that the programme could be scrapped.

“I never had the chance to learn English. I don’t want my daughter to also be deprived of the opportunity,” she said. 

A blogger known as Cikgu Nurul had posted on Monday a statement supposedly from a state Education Department that the DLP would not be available to Year One, Year Four and Form One pupils this year.

The teacher said the sudden change was a problem as the schools would have to answer the parents’ demands for an explanation.

The dual language programme was introduced in 2016 in selected primary and secondary schools. 

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said the ministry should clarity the status of the programme immediately and reveal the list of DLP schools for the year.

“I hope there will not be another flip-flop,” she said, adding that one suit should not cause the programme to be scrapped as many parents are still in favour of it. – January 3, 2018.