Tamil school during 1957

As Malaya began to move towards self-government and eventual independence, efforts were made to develop a national education policy. The Barnes Report, published in 1951 and enacted as the Education Ordinance of 1952, proposed a national school system with Malay and English as mediums of instruction, with the exclusion of Chinese and Tamil schools, which the Chinese and Indians protested. The Fenn-Wu Report, which allowed the retention of Chinese and Tamil schools, elicited protest from the Malays. In 1956, theRazak Report was published as a compromise; it established a national school system with Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil schools at the primary level, and Malay and English schools at the secondary level. Malay schools would be known as National Schools, and non-Malay schools as National-type schools. The report was accepted and enacted as Education Ordinance of 1956, which formed the basis of the education policy of independent Malaya. After independence of the Federation of Malaya, Tamil schools accepted government funding and became National-type (Tamil) Schools. Under a set of arrangements, the government is responsible for funding, teachers training and setting the school curriculum, while the school buildings and assets remained the property of the local Indian community. Schools under these arrangements elect a board of directors to oversee and safeguard the school properties. However, due to the eventual objective of using Malay as the medium of instruction in all schools as envisioned in the Razak Report, National-Type Schools receive relatively small proportion of education funding compared to the Malay-medium National Schools. In 2003, the government introduced the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics subjects in English in all schools. This was protested by education groups that advocate the use of mother tongues as mediums of instruction in schools. In 2009, the government announced a return to the previous mediums of instruction starting in 2012. This in turn was met with opposition from parents that support the 2003 policy. In 2011, the government released details of reimplementation of the previous mediums of instruction. While new Year 1 students would be taught in the previous language, students that had already started learning Science and Mathematics in English can choose whether to continue in English or switch to the previous language.

UPSR

Tamil school sees better UPSR results after getting basic utilities
By CHRISTINA TAN chris@thestar.com.my

TWO students of SRJK(T) Ladang Escot made their school proud when they scored straight As in the UPSR examinations last year, a breakthrough for the 65-year-old school. Parents and teachers of the Tamil primary school firmly believe that a more conducive school environment has helped pupils in their studies. Headmistress P. Murugayee said the schools overall passing rate for the examinations for Year Six pupils also improved significantly from about 40% in the previous years to 50% last year.

The school set up in 1946, has been without electricity supply for a long time. It finally received electricity and clean water supply during the Hulu Selangor by-election in April last year. The school, which has 60 pupils currently, was running on a generator with the diesel supplied by the parent-teacher association (PTA) and raw water channelled from the nearby mountain water. We are pleased to see this improvement, it is our best achievement so far. The children can learn in brighter and cooler classrooms without the noise from the generator, she said. Since having electricity and water supply, Murugayee said the school managed to have longer classes and more activities involving parents and pupils. Many pupils come from poor families with little awareness about the importance of education and we have organised a few motivation and education awareness sessions in school, she said. She added that with donations from the private sector and allocation from the Education Ministry, the school was able to conduct some renovations in 2009 when a proper canteen was built and some classrooms extended. We also have computers, photocopy machine, projectors and other multimedia facilities now to help motivate the children and allow more activities in the classroom, she said. P. Vijaya, 48, a mother of one of the UPSR top scorers and a Year Three pupil, said the school environment was now more conducive to learning. It used to be very warm in the classroom and my children always complained to me. Water and electricity supply are important for the school, she said. Year Six pupil S. Elvis Anderson said he was glad the school finally had electricity and water supply as their classrooms were more comfortable and they could have many activities in the school now. Meanwhile, Kuala Kubu Baru assemblyman Wong Koon Mun, who visited the school said education was important for every child and no one should be deprived of a quality education in an encouraging environment.

UPSR: Better showing in Maths, Science and Tamil

By KAREN CHAPMAN

PUTRAJAYA: There has been a jump in the number of As obtained in Mathematics, Science and Tamil (Comprehension) in the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) 2009 results.

Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said Mathematics (in both national and vernacular schools) had the highest increase in the number of As obtained at 4.2% followed by Tamil (Comprehension) at 3.6% and Science at 2.2% out of the 12 subjects offered in the UPSR. There was no significant drop in the other subjects, he said when announcing the analysis of the UPSR results at the ministry yesterday. Alimuddin said more Year Six pupils obtained As in all their subjects in this years UPSR compared to the previous year. A total of 48,171 obtained all As this year compared to 46,641 in 2008.