Dr Chou Chii Ming
KUCHING: A couple of aided Chinese primary schools (SJKC) in the state already run Bahasa Malaysia (BM) classes 240 minutes per week before the move was announced by the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The rationale for these schools to allocate more time for the subject was to enable pupils to master the language, said Dr Chou Chii Ming, chairman of the management committee for Kuching Chung Hua Primary Schools No.1 to 6.
“Some of the schools are flexible as their headmasters come up with a time table that suits the children.
“For instance, if Primary 4 pupils did not do well in BM, they can allocate a lesson or two more for the subject. A headmaster at SJKC is empowered to do what is best for his pupils,” he said in a phone call here yesterday.
Chou believed the MoE’s decision to increase the teaching time for BM from 180 minutes to 240 minutes per week would not greatly impact the overall running of SJKC throughout the country.
There are presently over 1,200 SJKC in the country, of which more than 200 of them are located statewide.
He said the final 240 minutes per week was a compromise between the United Chinese Schools Teachers’ Association (Jiao Zong) and MoE as Jiao Zong proposed 210 minutes per week against the ministry’s 280 minutes per week under its Education Blueprint 2013-2025.
“240 minutes is a bargained time after meetings between Jiao Zong and MoE. It is a middle point between 210 and 270 minutes.”
To a question, Chou said 60 minutes of Living Skill — considered a secondary subject — would be taken off to meet the extra teaching time for BM.
The management committee and the respective schools had yet to receive a circular on the official increment from either MoE or state Education Department, but he believed the official paper would come before Christmas.
“I read in a national Chinese daily that the circular will soon be issued,” he said.