The Education Ministry today clarified that Year One pupils in Chinese schools will not have to sit for the Science and Mathematics examination papers twice first in Mandarin and later in English next year.

After chairing an hour-long post-cabinet meeting at his office in Kuala Lumpur, Education Minister Musa Mohamed told reporters that all Chinese schools will provide bilingual examination papers, both in Mandarin and English, on the two subjects.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Year One pupils in Chinese schools would have to be tested on the two subjects in both languages.

This was following Barisan Nasional's acceptance of the alternative implementation for the language switch in Chinese primary schools, as proposed by Chinese-based parties in the ruling front.

One syllabus

However, Musa today refuted the premier's statement.

"Who says we have two different papers? The ministry doesn't have two different papers. We will only do it on a bilingual basis and it is up to the students to choose the language they prefer," he said.

Musa also corrected the earlier statement from the ministry that there would be a five-year transition before pupils must sit for the exam in English in 2008, saying today that this is yet to be confirmed.

In addition, he said there will only be one syllabus each for the two subjects.

The syllabus only caters to the teaching of the two subjects in English, so Chinese schools will have to translate it into Mandarin to use it as a guide for the teaching of the two subjects in their mother tongue.

Musa stressed that the ministry would only focus on curriculum content using English.

"For the ministry, we will only focus on the implementation in English. For Chinese schools, they will use Mandarin, and part-English, so this (Mandarin content) is up to them," he added.

Musa further said the ministry will not impose any milestones in the syllabus.

"As long as the schools can fulfill the tasks and the curriculum (by the end of the year), the ministry will leave it to them to decide (the logistical and technical aspects of) their teaching," he said.

Earlier, he told reporters that the cabinet did not discuss the language switch policy in today's meeting but has approved it together with the BN Chinese-based parties' proposal last week.

"The cabinet did not discuss the details, but all of us had acknowledged with what had discussed in the BN (supreme council) meeting and accepted it today," he said.

Mahathir had called the alternative proposal last week as the "best compromise we could come up with" after the language switch issue was widely debated for six months.

Under the proposal, Year One pupils in Chinese schools will have to attend 50 periods per week from next year to accommodate the new policy. This is an addition of four periods. Also the number of periods allocated for several subjects will also be reduced.

National schools

Meanwhile, on a unrelated issue, Musa said the introduction of communication languages, namely Mandarin, Tamil and Arabic will be the "final goal" of the ministry.

However, he said such subjects would only be taught in Pupil's Own Language classes and that it would not made compulsory for all schools in the short run due to a lack of qualified teachers.

He was asked to comment on Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik's statement on Sunday that the three languages would be taught in national primary schools during formal schools hours beginning next year.

Lim also said two periods would be allocated for the teaching of these communication languages.

Responding on this, Musa said: "Dr Lim is not the education minister, I am."