Dual-Language Education in Public Schools

KUALA LUMPUR: A common Bahasa Malaysia (BM) curriculum will be introduced at the primary level, starting from the 2014 Year 4 cohort.

This is to achieve the Education Ministry’s target of having 90 per cent of students scoring a minimum of credit in SPM BM by 2025.

Up to five hours of intensive remedial classes will also be made available each week for National-type schools to help those who struggle with the language.

This move will address the disparities in performance between the various ethnic groups as Chinese and Tamil students tend to score lower in SPM BM compared to the Bumiputeras because they have lower exposure to the language in National-type schools.

The remedial programme will eventually be replicated in other schools where there are groups of students falling behind in BM and additional teachers will be upskilled when necessary.

This combination of raising the standards of the language and providing additional support for students throughout their primary schooling years will allow the ministry to do away with the remove class by 2017.

Long term efforts to develop BM into a language of knowledge will also be intensified by encouraging academics to develop new bodies of work in BM, getting the Malaysian Institute of Translation and Books to translate international research and key terminology into BM and having more language training courses organised by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka as well as local universities.

Read more: New Education Blueprint: Student’s proficiency in the national language given prominence - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/new-education-blueprint-student-s-proficiency-in-the-national-language-given-prominence-1.142181##ixzz268mqd7YQ