Disappointed with entry requirement for DLP

I REFER to the letter “Education Minister must support DLP” (The Star, Feb 15) by Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, chairperson of Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE).

I was extremely disappointed at finding out during a recent parent-teacher meeting that entry into the Dual Language Programme (DLP) for primary school is based on the pupil’s proficiency in Bahasa Melayu.

My children aged five and six years currently go to a private kindergarten where the main language used is English but Bahasa Melayu is also taught. Hence, I feel that assessing children who are fresh out of kindergarten for their proficiency in Bahasa Melayu is very unfair.

In the DLP, science and maths are taught in English, so shouldn’t proficiency in English be the main assessment tool?

Having worked in multinat­ional corporations, I have seen the alarmingly low level of proficiency in English among fresh graduates. Weakness in spoken and written English is a disadvantage to cand­idates attending job interviews.

Graduates must be proficient in English to be competitive locally and also abroad. I attribute the weak proficiency in English among fresh graduates to the current education system in Malaysia.

It is time for the Education Ministry to implement DLP in all schools, and proficiency in Bahasa Melayu should not be used as an entry requirement for the programme. In my view, parents should be given a choice in their children’s education path.

I urge the Education Minister to take immediate action to resolve this issue, as I believe this is a concern among many parents with the new school session having just started. Remaining silent is not going to resolve the grievances among parents, teachers and students.

SIVARUBAN

Subang Jaya