STARTING next year, special needs children in national schools will be able to formally learn Chinese and Tamil as mother tongue subjects for the first time under the new Kurikulum Persekolahan 2027.
Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh said the move is aimed at strengthening the mother tongue proficiency of Students with Special Educational Needs (MBPK) under the Special Education Integration Programme (PPKI) and is part of improvements to special education under the new curriculum.
“The ministry understands the importance of providing mother tongue support.
“It plays a significant role in the communication, emotional development and identity of special education pupils.
“Under the 2027 curriculum, the Education Ministry will offer Chinese and Tamil subjects specifically for special needs pupils to strengthen their mother tongue abilities,” he said.
Wong was responding to a question from Cha Kee Chin (PH–Rasah), who wanted to know the ministry’s plans to support mother tongue learning for special needs pupils in vernacular school settings.
Currently, he said that MBPK follows PPKI in both national schools (SK) and national-type schools (SJK), and uses the same standard curriculum for primary schools and special education curriculum. As such, he said, schools already have room to incorporate mother tongue elements.
“Although Chinese primary schools use the same standard curriculum for primary schools and the standard curriculum for special education at national schools, teachers can still incorporate mother tongue elements,” he said, adding that this could be done both inside and outside the classroom.
Wong said the ministry will also introduce three special subjects tailored to different needs, namely Individual Foundational Education for visually impaired pupils, Malaysian Sign Language and Life Management.
He said the curriculum documents for these subjects will be made available in three languages to allow schools to use the version that matches their medium of instruction.
“This is part of our effort to ensure that special needs pupils are not left out of curriculum reforms and receive support that is more closely aligned with their linguistic and learning needs,” he added.
