Tamil primary schools in Malaysia
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Tamil primary schools in Malaysia are
Within the framework of the
Besides providing education in the Tamil language, the schools also play a part in imparting Indian cultural and religious values to young Malaysian Indians to maintain a distinct Indian identity while fostering national unity in
History
During the
Tamil education in Malaysia started when first Tamil primary school was established in Penang in 1816. This school was operational for few years. Later in 1870 more Tamil schools were started in Province Wellesley, North Johor, Negeri Sembilan state.[3]
As the
In the beginning, most of the schools did not last long due to lack of support and commitment from the estate managements and the government, and there was no continuous effort from the Indian community to sustain these schools. To attract more labourers and make them stay longer, the government passed a
Tamil schools at that time used the school curriculum from India and did not have teaching of the Malay and English languages. Emphasis was given only to reading, writing and arithmetic skills in the lower primary level and writing composition and geography was taught in the higher primary level. The children, on leaving the Tamil primary school, were absorbed into the working milieu of the plantations. Parents themselves, mostly illiterate, did not see the value or purpose of seeking out a secondary education. Furthermore, the colonial government was intending to keep the Indians in the plantations and had no interest in providing education beyond the primary level. As a result, Tamil secondary schools were not established in Malaya.
Between 1930 and 1937, there were some developments in Tamil education when the
After
As Malaya began to move towards self-government and eventual independence, efforts were made to develop a national education policy. The Barnes Report, published in 1951 and enacted as the Education Ordinance of 1952, proposed a national school system with Malay and English as mediums of instruction, with the exclusion of Chinese and Tamil schools, which the Chinese and Indians protested. The Fenn-Wu Report, which allowed the retention of Chinese and Tamil schools, elicited protest from the Malays. In 1956, the Razak Report was published as a compromise; it established a national school system with Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil schools at the primary level, and Malay and English schools at the secondary level. Malay schools would be known as National Schools, and non-Malay schools as National-type schools. The report was accepted and enacted as Education Ordinance of 1956, which formed the basis of the education policy of independent Malaya.
After independence of the Federation of Malaya, Tamil schools accepted government funding and became National-type (Tamil) Schools. Under a set of arrangements, the government is responsible for funding, teachers’ training and setting the school curriculum, while the school buildings and assets remained the property of the local Indian community. Schools under these arrangements elect a board of directors to oversee and safeguard the school properties. However, due to the eventual objective of using Malay as the medium of instruction in all schools as envisioned in the Razak Report, National-Type Schools receive relatively small proportion of education funding compared to the Malay-medium National Schools.
In 2003, the government introduced the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics subjects in English in all schools. This was protested by education groups that advocate the use of mother tongues as mediums of instruction in schools. In 2009, the government announced a return to the previous mediums of instruction starting in 2012. This in turn was met with opposition from parents that support the 2003 policy. In 2011, the government released details of reimplementation of the previous mediums of instruction. While new Year 1 students would be taught in the previous language, students that had already started learning Science and Mathematics in English can choose whether to continue in English or switch to the previous language.
See also
References
- ^ "Act 550 – Education Act 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ Ghazali, Kamila (2010). UN Chronicle – National Identity and Minority Languages. United Nations, accessed 28 Jan 2021.
- ISBN 978-81-234-2354-8.