Delegates at the Wanita Umno general assembly today debated, among others, issues concerning education and religion, with a delegate calling on the government to implement a single stream system, with the Malay language being the medium of instruction.

Another delegate called for more emphasis on religious and moral education in the new assessment system which would replace the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) from 2016.

On the single stream system, Lenggong Wanita Umno chief Khamsiyah Yeop said other language such as Mandarin or foreign language such as Japanese could be taken as an elective subject.

She said the move would help promote unity as well as enhance the command of language among students.

"If this can be implemented, then we can have a '1Malaysia, 1Language, 1Nation' slogan," she said when debating the policy speech of Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil at the assembly at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) today.

    

Khamsiyah also praised the Permata Negara programme mooted by the prime minister's wife Rosmah Mansor and said that it should be expanded so that more children would benefit from it.

Alor Gajah Wanita Umno chief Norpipah Abdol, who called for more focus on religious and moral education at the primary school level, said the move would help tackle social problems.

She said the move was also in line with the need to inculcate good moral values from a young age.

"I believe education specialists will be able to know the types of assessment that will help mould these young children into responsible teenagers," she said when debating the policy speech.

Norpipah said the education minister should also galvanise religious schools in states to find a framework to inculcate moral values among students.

She said social problems should be urgently addressed, given its prevalence of late.

Citing a National Registration Department statistic, she said 214,033 births were recorded between 2005 and 2009 where the marriage status of their parents could not be ascertained.

Last year alone, 17,303 children, who were born out of wedlock, were from the Malay community.

Besut Wanita Umno chief Engku Naimah Engku Taib said Islamic studies should also be made a subject in UPSR and given similar importance like other subjects.

There was also a need to streamline fardhu ain in all schools, she added.

Pasir Gudang Wanita Umno chief Normala Abdul Samad, meanwhile, urged the government and private sector to implement the flexible working hours in a holistic manner to encourage more women to work.

This would help reduce the country's reliance on foreign workers, she said, adding that although the proposal were raised two years ago, the response was less than encouraging.

She said that the flexible working hours could be implemented under the minimum wage initiative.

"Let us give our full mandate to Shahrizat to pursue this," she said, adding that this would prove that the recognition given to women was not just a rhetoric.

"Attracting women into the employment sector is no longer an option but a necessity in making Malaysia more competitive," she said.

The employment rate of women in the country was still low at 46 per cent compared to 76 per cent in developed countries, Normala added.

- Bernama