Malaysian students should learn four languages English, Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin and Tamil. That is the ideal situation in a multi-racial country like Malaysia, said Deputy Education Minister Abdul Aziz Samsuddin.

That will encourage interaction and enhance social integration among students of various races, he commented in an interview with the Nanyang Siang Pau today.

He believed that if such an education policy had been implemented, the English-language switch to teach Science and Mathematics and the vision schools concept would not become controversial at all today.

Abdul Aziz who was a former school teacher said that ideally, students in national schools should learn Mandarin and Tamil apart from Bahasa Melayu and English while those in national-type schools should do likewise besides learning their mother-tongues.

"This proposal does not mean that students are required to master the four languages. It is more to enable them to know more languages and to be able to communicate well with other races," he explained.