TLO poll: Majority says no to Jawi in vernacular schools
In August last year, the Education Ministry surprised Malaysians by announcing that it would introduce Jawi calligraphy in the Primary 4 syllabus of the vernacular schools from Jan 1.
Taken aback by the announcement, many non-Muslims and even some Muslims shot back against the idea. Some questioned the government’s rationale in introducing the script, saying it does not make any sense in terms of improving our national school system.
Others had different views, saying it was the government’s way of bringing religion into vernacular schools.
The thing is, the Jawi script is already taught to Muslim students during the Islamic classes in national schools, while non-Muslim students are required to take up the Moral subject.
Currently, there is an impasse on the decision, with the government adamant on introducing Jawi calligraphy in vernacular schools while the latter are vehemently opposing it.
The Leaders Online ran a poll, which was conducted on Twitter between Jan 10 till yesterday, to get people’s views on the matter.
From the poll, our team found that 63.6% of readers were opposed to Jawi being taught in vernacular schools.
The same poll, conducted on Facebook, showed 90% of our users were opposed to it. Only 10% agreed for Jawi to be taught in vernacular schools.
Fifty readers participated in the polls on Twitter and Facebook. However, our team do not have a racial breakdown on our pollsters.
By Hema Subramaniam
