Compiled by ALLSION LAI, SALMA FAIRUS IZDIHAR and R. ARAVINTHAN
TAMIL education activists have questioned the Education Ministry for failing to implement guidelines promised by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Tamil language classes in secondary schools, Malaysia Nanban reported.
M. Vetrivelan, who spoke on behalf of Tamil education activists and NGOs, said they welcomed the response by Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek in Parliament regarding classes for Chinese language in secondary schools.
Fadhlina had said the ministry intends to appoint 200 teachers to teach Chinese language in secondary schools.
Vetrivelan said similar attention needs to be given to the teaching of Tamil in public schools.
He said Anwar, during a speech at the 11th World Tamil Research Conference, said he would speak to Fadhlina about allowing Tamil classes to be conducted in public schools if there were a minimum of 10 students interested to learn the language.
However, two years had passed and the ministry has yet to issue any circular on this matter, Vetrivelan said.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
