The campaign against the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English has gained momentum from the Malaysian Indian community.

More than 300 delegates from several national Tamil groups are expected to attend a Dong Jiao Zong (DJZ) conference in Kajang tomorrow to register their protest against the language switch.

In a joint statement yesterday, four Tamil organisations pledged their support for the influential Chinese education movement to call on the government to review the policy.

The four are Malaysian Indian Youth Council, Malaysian Dravidian Association, Malaysian Tamil Education Research and Development Foundation (MTERDF) and the Group of Concerned Citizens.

They will send some 300 delegates to the conference.

DJZ comprises the Federation of Malaysian Chinese School Boards Associations (Dong Zong) and the Federation of Malaysian Chinese School Teachers Associations (Jiao Zong). It has consistently opposed the language switch.

Plummeting standards

Malaysian Indian Youth Council president A Rajaretnam said the three-year-old policy had lowered the standard of the subjects' syllabus and affected the performance of Tamil school pupils.

He dismissed the claim by MIC President S Samy Vellu that the policy had raised the academic achievements of students in Tamil schools.

"That is MIC's claim, but how far is it true?" he asked when contacted.

The Education Ministry has defended the policy, stating that pupils from the various language streams have achieved better results after the implementation.

However, Rajaretnam, a secondary school teacher, felt that the ministry was covering up the real problem.

"I believe the ministry did not reveal the genuine picture, maybe it is true in the urban schools where parents can speak English but how about rural schools?" he said.

He cited the example of the Tamil primary school he attended which was converted into a Malay medium school in 1972.

"Tamil pupils in the school used to obtain 75 percent passing rate in the government exam, but it has dropped to 0 percent for 12 consecutive years after the switch," he said.

"The number of pupils who manage to enroll into university has also dropped from three to four per year to only three in 22 years," he added.

Rajaretnam supports the usage of English in secondary schools but insists that primary school pupils be allowed to learn the subjects in their mother tongue with some introduction of Science and Mathematics terminologies in English.

Critical impact

MTERDF president M Manogaran said the language switch has made a critical impact on rural Tamil schools.

"Many teachers in those schools are still teaching the two subjects in Tamil because the students cannot understand English. The problem occurs when they sit for the government examination which is conducted in English.

"In the long run, economic and social status of the Tamil community will be affected because many students will drop out after they fail to pass the two subjects," he added

He claimed that government was sending non-Tamil teachers to Tamil schools to teach the two subjects without providing any convincing reasons.

"This has raised concern among the Tamil community because they are afraid it will change the identity of Tamil schools," said Manogaran.

"Parents have the democratic right to choose the education stream for their children. Instead of disturbing us (with policies), we hope the government could concentrate on upgrading the facilities in Tamil schools," he added.

According to Manogaran, the group plans to approach the ministry and the prime minister over the issue since MIC has failed.

MIC doesn't care

Meanwhile, Malaysian Dravidian Association President Muthiah Sundaram claimed that many Tamil school teachers and headmasters are aware of the problem but refuse to speak up because they are public servants.

"Many parents disagree with the policy but they choose to keep quiet because MIC told them that protesting against the government's decision will cause Indians to lose everything they have in the country and even lead to ethnic confrontations.

"Many MIC leaders are from the middle class, their children are not studying in Tamil schools. They don't bother, they don't care about (the language switch)," he said.

Muthiah pointed out that Tamil schools have lost their identity under the new policy.

Formed in 1946, the Malaysian Dravidian Association is one of the oldest Indian national organisation with over 7000 members. Samy Vellu was once a member as well.