Pena: Dual Language Programme will lead to discrimination

PETALING JAYA: The implementation of the Dual Language Programme (DLP) involving 300 schools will lead to discrimination between urban schools and their rural and vernacular counterparts, Pena chairman Dr Ibrahim Ghaffar said.

Speaking to FMT, Ibrahim said educational policies should be applied universally, rather than on a select group.

He explained it was discriminatory for the programme to only be available to the 300 schools involved in the pilot and said, “Not only is this discrimination, this will also lead to a widening gap between urban and rural schools.”

Ibrahim also said the DLP, which gives parents a choice for their children to learn science and maths subjects in English or Bahasa Melayu was less effective than learning the subjects in their mother tongue, be it Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin or Tamil.

“According to our research, the learning of critical subjects is more effective when taught in (students’) mother tongues.

“If they cannot understand the language, how will they master the subjects?”

He added that Pena understood the importance and need to improve English proficiency, but said there were other ways of doing this without implementing the DLP.

However, the Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) had a different take on the situation.

Its chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said the DLP addressed the weaknesses of teaching science and maths in English (PPSMI) and added, “The last time, parents complained that PPSMI was compulsory, so this is why DLP gives parents and students a choice.

“It is up to them, whether they want to opt for English or lose out.”

She said that science and maths were chosen as DLP subjects as it had the highest concentration of teachers who had a minor in English.

Noor Azimah, who was part of the government’s Performance Management Development Unit or Pemandu panel that developed the DLP, rubbished claims that it contradicted the spirit of the Federal Constitution and the national education policy.

She said in 2010, the High Court had ruled that the PPSMI did not violate the Federal Constitution, the National Language Act 1963/67 and the Education Act 1996.

A protest against the DLP has been planned for March 26 by the Bantah-DLP movement.

sumber: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/01/26/pena-dual-language-programme-will-lead-to-discrimination/