24 June 2019

International studies prove advantages of mother tongue education

PAS Muslimat delegate Salamiah Md Nor called for an end to vernacular schools, with an allegation that they do not unite the races. She also pressed that Mandarin should not become a second language for Malaysians. Salamiah, made these remarks when taking part in the debate on the president’s policy speech during the PAS 65th Muktamar in Kuantan.

Responding to Salamaiah’s statement, we the MCA GMC do not share the same opinion. We will address this topic from an academic view point. We assert that education policies must benefit all children in Malaysia, regardless of their ethnicity, political belief or religious background.

Numerous research and international policies have proven that children learn better in their mother tongue.

In 1953, UNESCO stated in its Monographs on fundamental education titled “The Use of Vernacular Languages in Education” has encouraged mother tongue instruction in primary education. In these monographs, specialists from all parts of the globe met at UNESCO House, Paris in 1951 to discuss in particular on the usage of vernacular languages. The specialists have recommended that it is important that every effort should be made to provide education in one’s mother tongue. UNESCO continues to highlight the advantages of mother tongue education right from the start whereby children are more likely to enrol and succeed in school.

Other studies have found that parents are more likely to communicate with teachers and participate on their children’s learning (Benson, 2002). Girls and rural children with less exposure to a dominant language stay in school longer and repeat grades less often (Hovens, 2002; UNESCO Bangkok, 2005); and children in multilingual education tend to develop better thinking skills compared to their monolingual peers (e.g., Bialystok, 2001; Cummins, 2000; King & Mackey, 2007).

We do not need to elaborate further. Enough research evidences and international policies support vernacular languages in education (especially in primary education) as the right way to move forward. Our confidence in vernacular languages in primary education is not confined only to Chinese vernacular primary education; but also applies to the Indian community and Malay community. We assert that education policies should not be politicalised, and should be based on scientific research evidences that work best for the benefit of fellow students.

We welcome the statement by PAS Central Committee member Dr Halimah Ali whereby she urged her party to learn from the success of vernacular schools to improve its own academic institutions. We also acknowledge the statement by PAS Vice President Ahmad Samsuri that Salamiah’s call does not represent PAS’ policies at the federal or state levels.

MCA Government Affairs Monitoring Committee (GMC) on Education and Human Resource Development

-MCA online-