Association confident Chinese school parents in Sibu against Jawi script
SIBU: The United Association of Chinese Primary Aided School Boards of Management Sibu and Kapit Division chairman Thomas Tang is confident that the large majority of parents here will oppose the implementation of the teaching of Jawi script in Primary 4.
He told The Borneo Post yesterday that survey forms have been distributed to all 48 Chinese schools here, and that he estimates about 95 per cent of the parents will reject the move.
“The schools are required to collect the forms from the parents by Jan 20 at the latest. So right now, we are waiting for the collection,” he said.
Tang added the association would contact each school to collect the forms and submit to their board of management.
He said the board would have a meeting to finalise the result of the survey and that once the result is out, the board would come up with a report for the principals.
The report would then be submitted to the education office.
“If the majority of the parents, meaning 51 per cent, are against the implementation, I’m sure the government will respect the decision of the parents.
“However, if the majority agrees (to teaching of Jawi script), then the association cannot say anything,” he said while stressing that the final decision would be purely down to what the parents want.
“The association’s stand is that we disagree with the implementation of Jawi script in Primary 4. For now it is only three pages, but what about next year? It could be more pages. There is no guarantee.
“So that is why we tell the parents that we can only voice out our stand, but the decision is theirs.”
Tang further said that the association is against the implementation because Jawi is not an official language in the constitution.
“I do not oppose Bahasa Melayu because it is the official language, but Jawi is not in the constitution,” he said.
He also said the association would not oppose if Jawi is introduced as a co-curricular activity.