We want answers: Tiruvarasu (left) and Suresh said they are still waiting on the Education Ministry to resolve the issue.
JOHOR BARU: Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) from Tamil schools affected by the move to reduce the number of Dual Language Programme (DLP) classes are disappointed with the reasons given by the Education Ministry for doing so.
The PTAs from five schools claimed they have fulfilled the criteria required to carry out DLP in all classes, including the requirement for students to get good Bahasa Melayu results.
“In fact, these schools have managed to maintain good results that are above the target of the ministry’s requirements for students in Bahasa Melayu,” said SJK (T) Jalan Yahya Awal PTA chairman A. Tiruvarasu.
Furthermore, he said the requirement for good grades in Bahasa Melayu had never been brought up during meetings by the state education department and state exco.
“It was never brought up to the schools in the six years they have carried out DLP in all classes,” he claimed.
“We were previously told that the problem lies in the limited number of DLP classes in secondary schools but suddenly, we are now told there is an issue with the Bahasa Melayu results of our students,” he told a press conference arranged by the Johor Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry yesterday.
In a report on Sunday, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek told The Star that schools must meet certain conditions to conduct the DLP.
This included the criterion that the students must have good grades in Bahasa Melayu.
SJK (T) Ladang Rini PTA chairman N. Suresh said the ministry must have a clear direction on how they want to resolve the issue.
“It is unfair to put the blame on the students and schools. We have been pushing for a solution for months now and have sent numerous emails to the ministry but have yet to receive any response.
“We are unclear on the ministry’s direction. Parents are getting more and more frustrated with the situation as it has been months since this problem was highlighted,” he said.
He also urged the ministry to keep its word to meet with the representatives from the five affected schools.
“We were told that a DLP task force has been set up to deal with this problem and they would meet us after Hari Raya. We have yet to hear about this meeting as of now,” he said.
Also present at the press conference were PTA representatives from SJK (T) Taman Tun Aminah and SJK (T) Jalan Haji Manan.
Separately, a group of parents from the affected schools made an attempt to meet with Fadhlina on Thursday but she was away at another event.
“However, we managed to meet with one of the special officers of the Deputy Minister and we explained to him our disappointment as it has been two months since we sent a memo to the state education department appealing for the DLP classes to continue as usual,” said Captain M. Palaniandy, a parent from SJK (T) Jalan Yahya Awal.
“We hope that the matter could be resolved before students go back to school after a break between May 25 and June 4,” he added.
In March, The Star reported that the DLP, in which students are taught Science and Mathematics in English, had become a problem in Johor when hundreds of pupils from five Tamil schools were left in a quandary after they were told that the programme would only be offered in one class for each school starting this year.
In previous years, the DLP was available for all students in the five schools – SJK (T) Taman Tun Aminah, SJK (T) Ladang Rini, SJK (T) Jalan Yahya Awal and SJK (T) Masai here as well as SJK (T) Jalan Haji Manan in Kluang.
On April 19, representatives from the schools met with state education, information and communication committee chairman Norliza Noh, state tourism, environment, and culture committee chairman K. Raven Kumar and Johor Education Department director Md Said Md Daimon to discuss the matter.
The representatives claimed that they were promised a follow-up meeting with the Education Ministry after Hari Raya.
