Chinese education movement Dong Jiao Zong (DJZ) has expressed regret over MCA's stand for Chinese primary schools to have bilingual UPSR papers in 2008. The first batch of students following the language switch in 2003 will be affected by the move.

The movement reiterated in a statement yesterday that teaching Science and Mathematics using both Mandarin and English at the same time is not acceptable.

"It weakens the mother tongue education system in Chinese primary schools. It opens up a crack in the mother tongue education system which would lead Chinese schools to lose their identity," said a statement endorsed by both Dong Zong president Yap Sin Tian and Jiao Zong president Ong Kow Ee.

Dong Jiao Zong is the collective name for the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) and United Chinese School Teachers Association of Malaysia (Jiao Zong).

In an interview with Nanyang Siang Pao on Wednesday, Deputy Education Minister Hon Choon Kim said MCA will request his ministry to have bilingual UPSR papers for Chinese primary schools in 2008.

"Although the Education Ministry has not decided on the UPSR medium in 2008, MCA's stand is very clear," said Hon who is also MCA central committee member.

Acording to him, party president Ong Ka Ting made the request to Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein recently.

The language switch policy, proposed by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was implemented in 2003 with the aim of improving English proficiency among students.

Vernacular education groups had strongly opposed but the government refused to back down.

Bilingial alternative

The language switch was implemented for Year One in all primary schools. In Chinese schools, however, a bilingual alternative was introduced after strong protest by the Chinese community.

The first batch of students under the new policy will sit for the UPSR in 2008. The Education Ministry has not announced the language of the examination although it is just a year ago.

Dong Jiao Zong had urged the government to revert the language switch, arguing that mother tongue is the most efficient language for learning.

According to a survey conducted by DJZ last year, the bilingual policy brought negative impacts on the students.

"Besides suffering from more pressure, many students fail to master English which affects their learning of Science and Mathematics."

"Under the policy, subjects using Mandarin were forced to cut down on their periods. This resulted in a heavy drop of the students' Mandarin level," said the statement.

The movement said it agreed on the government's effort to enhance the nation's English proficiency, but opposed language policy that violates its principle on education.