Maszlee proposes English and BM-only days each week for schools

– Bernama

JOHOR BARU: Schools should have two days every week where only Bahasa Malaysia or English is used to help students improve their language skills, Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik has proposed.

Maszlee said Tuesday could be chosen as the schools' "English language day" while Thursday could be "Bahasa Malaysia day".

Students and teachers will be asked to use that one language the whole day at school. The rationale is that mastery of a language should begin at school level.

Maszlee said the ministry would discuss this proposal with the relevant parties and he hoped schools were open to it.

"We want to encourage our students to master English and at the same time, strengthen Bahasa Malaysia," he said during a reunion of old students SK Temenggong Abdul Rahman 2 here.

Maszlee said the Bahasa Malaysia day should not be confined only to the national-type schools but also to private and Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools.

He said students should also be encouraged to take up a third or fourth language such as Arabic, Mandarin and Tamil.

"Malaysia is a multiracial country and we should celebrate our  diversity, including learning or mastering other languages and not only English and Bahasa Malaysia," said Maszlee.