Parents lodge police report against PAGE chief over DLP letter

Low Han Shaun Low Han Shaun Updated 8 years ago · Published on 5 Jan 2018 7:57PM · 3 Comments

R. Balamurali, spokesperson of the parents who are against the DLP (third from left) with parents of pupils from SJK (T) Vivekananda, lodging a report against Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, the chairperson of the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE). – The Malaysian Insight pic, January 5, 2017.

A GROUP of parents has lodged a police report against an education pressure group, accusing it of “instigating” parents of pupils in a vernacular school in Petaling Jaya to oppose the halt of the Dual Language Programme (DLP).

The Education Ministry had, on December 20, issued a circular to the parents of SJK (T) Vivekananda informing them of the DLP suspension at the school for this academic year.

R. Balamurali, the spokesperson for the parents who filed the police report, Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, the chairperson of the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE), had instigated parents of the school’s pupils through her letter about the DLP, which was published by The Malaysian Insight and several media outlets.

Her letter highlighted a suit against the implementation of DLP filed in September last year after some parents feared that the programme would diminish the learning of the Tamil language.

“Who is she to instigate the parents because the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) represents the majority of the parents (in the school) and have the mandate of the parents to file this application in court.

“We have checked with our lawyers; our lawyers are of the opinion that there is a possibility that it could lead to a contempt of court because the matter is still in court.

“So, her statement looks as though the majority of the parents are against this application and seem to instigate parents to take action against the ministry’s circular on December 20,” he said.

Balamurali, who is also a parent against the DLP in the Tamil school, said the judicial review was filed on September last year by a parent of a pupil and a pressure group. 

He said the Tamil school did not follow last year’s DLP implementation guidelines, which must have a school’s PTA approval via a letter of consent before carrying out the programme.

“But it happened that the DLP implementation went ahead without the knowledge of the PTA, somehow the school manage to get it.

“So, there are a number of procedural problems which we had highlighted to the court, and the court told us to get some more details to come back for a full hearing on February 27 at the High Court,” he said.

Balamurali said they were only asking for DLP to be stopped in SJK (T) Vivekananda in Petaling Jaya, not in other schools. 

The ministry yesterday announced that 1,215 of the schools carrying out the DLP in 2017 would be allowed to continue the programme this year, but for only in Year 1 and Form 1.

It also said new DLP implementation guidelines would be implemented and issued at the first week of this month.

“All 1,215 schools will continue with the programme in classes that are readily available. They can open new classes only for Year One pupils and Form One students.

“For the 88 new schools given the approval to run the DLP this year, the new classes are for Year One pupils and Form One students only,” said the statement. – January 5, 2018.

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Comments

  • Parents reported? Check how many of their kids studiying in SJK(T) Vivekanada. 2017 out of 120 std 1 students 95 have select for DLP. What criteria is not fullfill here? When did these guys spokes to pearenst? Call up all the parents and debate, dont bring your own ppl and make a drama here.

    Posted 8 years ago by Theebhan Mathavan · Reply

  • At the first place, this people did not discuss with the parents about DLP. How come now they can claim that parents of SJKT Vivekananda did not support DLP? Ex-HM did a good job, being so neutral she called all the standard 1 parents of 2017. She did explained about the pro and cons about DLP implementation in this school. After listen and understand everything about the DLP implementaton, we parents choose to enroll our kids under DLP an Ex-HM did her part as per the parents request. We are not been forced by any party to be in under DLP.

    95/120 pupils is the proof that, we parents supported DLP implementation. Majority pupils are under DLP. Should called up both parties, DLP and anti DLP groups to debate on this matter. Who are these people to decide for our childrens future???? We are the clients of the school and we are the one can decide for our kids NOT THIRD PARTY!!!!



    Posted 8 years ago by Komathi suhumaran · Reply

  • At the first place, this people did not discuss with the parents about DLP. How come now they can claim that parents of SJKT Vivekananda did not support DLP? Ex-HM did a good job, being so neutral she called all the standard 1 parents of 2017. She did explained about the pro and cons about DLP implementation in this school. After listen and understand everything about the DLP implementaton, we parents choose to enroll our kids under DLP an Ex-HM did her part as per the parents request. We are not been forced by any party to be in under DLP.

    95/120 pupils is the proof that, we parents supported DLP implementation. Majority pupils are under DLP. Should called up both parties, DLP and anti DLP groups to debate on this matter. Who are these people to decide for our childrens future???? We are the clients of the school and we are the one can decide for our kids NOT THIRD PARTY!!!!




    Posted 8 years ago by Komathi suhumaran · Reply