Jawi introduction a ‘regressive move’
The introduction of ‘khat’ or Jawi calligraphy as part of the Year 4 Bahasa Melayu subject in Chinese and Tamil vernacular primary schools starting next year is a regressive move on the national education system, said Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Women leader Glenna Wong.
She said Mandarin and English were the most useful languages to learn in this globalized era.
Wong said the Education Ministry’s justification that the addition of khat as part of the Bahasa Melayu curriculum was to expose pupils to the aesthetics of calligraphy was essentially an intention to make pupils learn the Jawi script.
She said knowing the cultural background of the Jawi script was part and parcel of learning khat, and the khat originated from the Arabian Peninsular countries.
She went on to say that Bahasa Melayu did not have its own written script and the language was influenced by the ancient Arabic nations, which faith was Islam.
“To learn the culture, one must learn their religion as well to understand the essence of khat.
“The Malay language has adopted the English letters to develop its own language system due to limitations of the Jawi script.
“As such, isn’t learning Jawi script a regression?”
Wong said the Chinese subject for Year 4 pupils in national-type Chinese schools had 28 classes, eight of which incorporated calligraphy lessons where pupils only learned four words.
However, she was perplexed that the few pages of khat in the Bahasa Melayu textbook to enable students to appreciate the aesthetics of the Jawi script, required sending teachers for training.
Since pupils would not be assessed on their mastery of the art, Wong suggested incorporating khat as one of the extra-curriculum activities instead.
“This allows pupils to choose the extra-curriculum activities they prefer.”
She said adding khat into the Bahasa Melayu curriculum was extra burden for both teachers and students.
“If the aim of introducing Jawi script in the curriculum is to enhance unity and communication between Chinese and bumiputera students, why not organize activities that promote teamwork such as group chess competition or gasing contests?”
She said khat should not be incorporated into the curriculum of Chinese and Malay vernacular schools, but rather be offered as an extra-curricular activity or elective subject.
She believed that students would be more interested in learning if they were not forced to do so.
“Besides, there is no concrete proof that learning to appreciate Jawi script could improve students’ Bahasa Melayu standard or enhance unity.
“Since the Education Ministry emphasized that learning khat was a form of appreciation of the calligraphy, why not make it a twoway street and let Malay students learn about Chinese literature as well?” she asked.