Breaking News
Malaysia launches first phase of Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar
LUMUT, Sept 29 — Malaysia began repatriating around 1,500 Myanmar nationals on Tuesday, launching the first
...Woman worker dies after being trapped in lifter machine in Telok Panglima Garang
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — A woman worker died after she was believed to have been
...Sultan of Pahang’s sister Tengku Aishah dies, to be laid to rest with full honours
KUANTAN, Aug 26 — The sister of the Sultan of Pahang, Tengku Puteri Seri Kemala Tengku Datuk
...Claims of armed men entering Semporna, Lahad Datu baseless
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 — Claims of a group of armed men entering Semporna and Lahad
...No subsidy cuts planned despite soaring petroleum costs linked to West Asia conflict
KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — More than 3,500 medical officers left Malaysia’s public healthcare sector over
...Melaka PKR urges calm, seeks consensus on nominated assemblymen issue
MELAKA, July 15 — Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) Melaka has urged all parties to not make hasty
...
Anwar Ibrahim says he will encourage the learning of Tamil
KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says he will encourage the learning of Tamil and hopes to make it an additional language in public schools.
Anwar said he would meet with education minister Fadhlina Sidek soon to talk about promoting the language in schools nationwide.
“The national education policy stipulates that Bahasa Malaysia has to be the main medium of instruction, and to promote English, too.
“However, the issue is the condition imposed by the education ministry. If you have a few students, you’ll have a problem finding teachers. To have a minimum of 15 students may be too tough a condition.
“I will speak to the education minister after this conference. We will reduce the minimum number to 10 students,” he said during 11th international Tamil research conference at the Tamil research centre, Universiti Malaya (UM) today.
Anwar said he believes that mastery of additional languages is important and, in many elite schools worldwide, students are encouraged to do so.
He also said it will be advantageous for the country, adding that he will provide an additional RM2 million for UM’s Indian studies department as part of a wider RM5 million investment in the Indian community.
Anwar dismissed as divisive any notions that this funding came at the expense of the Malay community. He added that the Malay community receives hundreds of millions of ringgit a year to promote language, literature and culture.
“I hope the senate will support the Tamil studies project and possibly translate some of the great works,” he said.
