Compiled by ARFA YUNUS, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
CONTROVERSY over an alleged order to remove Thiruvalluvar statues from several Tamil schools in Johor ended after the state Education Department clarified that it had not issued such a directive, Malaysia Nanban reported.
Tamil dailies reported that a school in the state was ordered to remove the statue of the ancient Indian sage.
The department said in a statement that the Segamat district education office had queried the school about the statue.
No order to remove the statue had been given, it added.
Johor Education Department director Mohd Hanafi Samad, assistant director for Tamil schools R. Ravichandran and Segamat education officials reportedly met with the school management to clarify the matter.
State MIC chairman K. Raven Kumar said there was a misunderstanding over the intent of the letter from the district education office.
Thiruvalluvar’s celebrated work, Thirukkural, is used to teach values and moral principles in a simple and practical way.
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.
