Chinese education group Dong Zong is the only education group unhappy with the Education Blueprint 2013-2035 unveiled last week, Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan has claimed.

According to the New Straits Times, he said other Chinese and Tamil education groups were satisfied following meetings with Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin before the blueprint was finalised.

NONE“(Muhyiddin) had also clarified and addressed their concerns. If there is a sentence in the blueprint that says vernacular schools will not be protected, please let us know,” Kamalanathan (left) was quoted as saying.

“It is good to learn another language. Learning Bahasa Malaysia does not make one less Indian or Chinese,” he said, noting that the hours for Bahasa Malaysia teaching was agreed by “all parties”.

Three Chinese education groups last Friday refuted claims that they had agreed to adding 60 minutes of Bahasa Malaysia lessons for Year Four to Year Six, to 240 minutes a week.

They said they had proposed only 210 minutes a week.  

The preliminary report of the National Education Blueprint had proposed to raise it to 270 minutes, prompting objections from the Chinese education groups and MCA.

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