Prominent transformations to Malaysia’s education system that will see more primary and secondary students go back to studying science and mathematics in Malay despite of English are increasing the ire of parents and observers. They say such a move will not give a rise to the employability of students in an era of globalisation. The Dual Language Programme (DLP), which since 2016 has permitted the two sole subjects to be taught in English, is being brought down or scrapped altogether in many government schools, according to education watchdog Parent Action Group for Education (Page).
“DLP schools and classes are being removed gradually and ever so discreetly,” Page chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim told The Straits Times, adding that there is requirement for the programme from students and parents. She said this is based on data the group collected from parents, parent-teacher associations and the Education Ministry. According to Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, the DLP is being phased out in some schools as it does not meet the ministry’s needs for the programme, namely that their Malay-language consequences must meet the national average grade or be higher.
“Schools must be able to meet some conditions to conduct the programme, specifically the need that the students’ Bahasa Melayu (Malay) consequences are as good as, if not better than, the ministry’s target,” she said in May, as reported by The Star. Schools also have to meet the target for a number of years consecutively. “This is where several schools do not succeed,” she said, also saying that half of public primary and secondary schools did not make the mark.