MCA leader slams DAP deputy minister over planned cut in Mandarin lessons at SJKCs

An MCA leader has criticised DAP’s Wong Kah Woh over the Education Ministry’s plan to reduce Mandarin teaching hours at Chinese primary schools under the new curriculum next year.

In a statement, MCA vice-president Tan Teik Cheng accused the deputy education minister of failing to safeguard the interests of Chinese national-type schools (SJKCs).

“The 2027 new curriculum was not drafted recently. Preparations have been underway for more than a year.

“As deputy education minister, why did Wong fail to identify the problem and propose corrective measures during the policy formulation stage to safeguard the interests of SJKCs?” Tan (above) said in a Facebook post today.

According to reports, the new curriculum, scheduled to take effect next year, will see the minimum number of weekly Mandarin lessons for Year One and Two pupils at SJKCs reduced from 12 to 10 periods.

Teaching reorganisation

In a Facebook post last week, Wong said the adjustment was part of the ministry’s effort to reorganise the minimum weekly teaching periods for each subject, with mother tongue language lessons in each school stream allocated at least 10 periods a week.

The new curriculum will also introduce a character-building module for primary school pupils, taking up about 15 minutes a day, or 75 minutes a week.

Wong stressed that the module would be conducted in the respective school streams’ medium of instruction, meaning SJKCs would use Mandarin while Tamil national-type schools would use Tamil.

In his statement, Tan also accused Wong of dereliction of duty for failing to address the issue during the curriculum’s planning stage.

“Wong is now saying that the issue will be resolved within two weeks. What, then, was he doing over the past year or more while the new curriculum was being prepared?

“A matter that should have been resolved internally within the Education Ministry has now forced the Chinese community to go to great lengths to fight for its interests. If this is not dereliction of duty, what is?” he said.

Malaysiakini has contacted Wong and the Education Ministry for comment.

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