'Mother-tongue education not the cause of polarisation'
Mother-tongue education is not the cause of racial polarisation in Malaysian society, said MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek.
Mother-tongue education is not the cause of racial polarisation in Malaysian society, said MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek.
He said some of the causes are government policies being hijacked by civil servants, people interpreting affirmative action based on their own racial prejudices, and weak monitoring in the issuing of licences and scholarships.
“We believe that mother-tongue education is not the cause of (racial) polarisation in this country. Mother-tongue education is important if we want to train multi-lingual people.
“Polarisation is due to so many other factors and not because of a single stream of education,” he said at a press conference today.
Moreover, he said, children below 12 years learn most effectively in their mother tongue.
Chua was speaking about mother tongue education at a press conference today, where he was asked what the government should do before calling for the next general election.
In response, he said while he welcomed the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s acknowledgment that vernacular education is a part of the mainstream education system during his speech at the launch of the National Education Blueprint, this needs to be better reflected in the blueprint itself.
“We felt that the education blueprint should very clearly demonstrate the government support and commitment to ensure that mother tongue education continues to flourish in this country,” he said.
The other thing the government needs to do before calling for the polls, he said, was to deliver the Budget 2013 promises quickly.
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