Bahasa Melayu is to be taught for 240 minutes weekly, up from the current 180 minutes, in national type Chinese and Tamil schools to raise proficiency in the language among the pupils, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Friday.

Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, said the additional time would not affect the teaching of the pupils' mother tongue, as feared by certain quarters.

"We are extending the period because we feel that proficiency in Bahasa Melayu among pupils in national type schools is low. The level of proficiency must be raised, even if not to the extent in national schools. The gap should not be too huge.

"Ministry officials had proposed 270 minutes but this did not go down well with the Chinese community and proponents of Chinese schools. There was no problem with Tamil schools; they accepted (the proposal).

"As such, we adopted the middle path and decided to increase the period to 240 minutes, and all accepted," he told reporters after launching the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, here.

Muhyiddin also said the ministry was considering increasing the time for the teaching of English in national schools by two hours per day or 10 hours per week.

Then, schools which close at 1 pm might have to do so at 3 pm or 3.30 pm, he added.

"It may not be a problem for single-session schools. We may have to introduce this in stages for dual-session schools, perhaps with the additional time allocated outside of the normal school hours," he said.

Muhyiddin also dismissed the allegations by certain quarters that the blueprint would do away with or cut down on the teaching of the mother tongue, such as Chinese and Tamil.

He said those who claimed that the government wanted to do away with the teaching of the mother tongue were wrong because the blueprint was based on the Education Act and the Federal Constitution, whereby the primary medium of instruction in schools was Bahasa Melayu and there was no prohibition on mother tongue.