The pro-English Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) said it has been receiving complaints from some parents that the school heads have ignored their wishes and switched the language policy for the two subjects to Bahasa Malaysia (BM) despite a circular from the education ministry on the issue earlier this month.
“The Education Act 1996 states that pupils are to be educated according to the wishes of their parents,” PAGE chairman, Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, said in a statement today.
She attributed the problem to the November 4 circular that detailed the language policy switch from the existing English to the national language from January next year.
She said that the circular did not indicate a specific mechanism to decide on the choice of language, giving rise to confusion on the language selection.
“The decision should instead be based on the language the students of the school learn best with, the language most used to answer exam scripts, the overall percentage pass in BM and English and the number of students proceeding to tertiary level,” she said.
Noor Azimah pointed out that the education director-general also agrees that school heads cannot insist that everyone learns in Bahasa Malaysia only.
“Therefore, we urge parents to engage with the principal and PTA heads of their respective schools,” she said.
She also called on parents to do their part and write in to formally ask for their children to be taught in English.
The Najib administration has come under fire from pro-English lobbyists, including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, for abolishing the 10-year-old policy and reverting to BM as the medium of instruction for maths and science.
Despite much criticism, the government announced recently that it would not back down from the decision but would allow the final batch who studied the two subjects in English to continue to do so until they complete their secondary education.
The new pro-BM policy for the two subjects, mooted in July 2009, will come into effect next year for Year One students.
