DLP will uphold Malay language, strengthen English language - Fadhlina

PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Education is committed to continue to uphold the Malay language and strengthen the English language, said minister Fadhlina Sidek.

She said the controversial Dual Language Programme (DLP) was part of the Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the Command of English Language (MBMMBI) policy.

Field visits showed that there are students in schools that implemented the DLP who do not have basic proficiency in Malay and their mother tongues.

"Therefore, schools that agree to implement DLP must ensure that all criteria are met, including mastering the Malay language. At the same time, proficiency of the mother languages must be preserved as the core of the legitimacy of the implementation of the mother tongue learning in vernacular schools," she said in a statement here today.

Fadhlina said that based on the Ministry of Education's (MOE) 2021 DLP Implementation Guidelines dated Nov 26, 2020, schools implementing DLP need to ensure that the opportunities for other students to learn Science and Mathematics in the national language or mother tongues are not affected.

Fadhlina said the management of DLP is through the respective State Education Departments (JPN) and schools have been given permission to open more than one DLP class for standard one and form one students based on the school's readiness and assessment by the District Education Office (PPD) and JPN.

She said the DLP implementation is subject to the ministry's decision to allow existing groups of students to continue DLP classes, according to individual school cases.

However, she added that schools must comply with the existing guidelines for the new cohort of standard one and form one students in the 2024/2025 session.

-- BERNAMA