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Aidiladha celebrated in moderation, people cautious of possible flooding

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:55 PM PDT

Aidiladha celebrated in moderation, people cautious of possible flooding

KUALA LUMPUR -- Muslims nationwide celebrated the Aidiladha in moderation and in cautious mode today following the possibility of flooding due to rainy season, especially in states in the northern part of the peninsula.

However, pleasant weather in the morning allowed Muslims to perform their Hari Raya prayers, followed by the sacrificial slaughter of cattle.

There are currently 28,000 Malaysians performing the haj including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

The prime minister and his wife left for Saudi Arabia on Oct 31 accompanied by Najib's mother Tun Rahah Mohamad Noah, brother Datuk Mohamed Nazim and Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

In KUALA LUMPUR about 10,000 people, including foreigners, performed the Aidiladha prayers at the National Mosque. They arrived as early as 7am to perform prayers led by the Grand Imam, Ustaz Ehsan Mohd Hosni.

-- Bernama

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Aidiladha celebrated in moderation, people cautious of possible flooding

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TRANSFERS ALLOWED

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 05:30 PM PDT

2011/11/06
By P. Selvarani and Chandra Devi Renganayar
nsunt@nst.com.my

D-G: Parents may move kids to schools still offering Maths, Science in English

KUALA LUMPUR: School heads will decide the medium of instruction that best suits their students for Science and Mathematics next year, and parents will be allowed to transfer their children to other schools if the option they want is not offered in their current schools.

Education director-general Datuk Seri Abd Ghafar Mahmud told the New Sunday Times yesterday that school heads could choose to have Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia or English, or in both languages for a particular level from next year.

This follows the government's decision to allow a gradual phasing out of English for the teaching of the two subjects.

"For instance, a school like the Taman Tun Dr Ismail primary school in Kuala Lumpur has students from Taman Tun Dr Ismail and nearby Sungai Penchala. In such cases, school heads can have separate classes where the subjects are taught in English and Bahasa Malaysia, respectively." If a school did not offer the option parents wanted, they could request for their children to be transferred to the nearest school which offered the subjects in that medium of instruction, he said.

"We will facilitate the transfers," Ghafar said, adding that a circular to this effectwas sent out to all the 9,996 primary and secondary schools on Friday to avoid any confusion that might arise following the decision to allow schools to choose the medium in which they wanted to teach the two subjects.

He said all state education directors and district education officers had also been briefed on this procedure.

On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that all students under the PPSMI (the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English) cohort would be allowed to continue to learn the two subjects in English until they completed their schooling.

He also said that national school students would also be allowed to study the subjects either fully in English, Bahasa Malaysia or both. Vernacular school children can also opt to learn Science and Mathematics in their mother tongue or English or both.

With this soft-landing approach, the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in primary schools will be carried out fully in Bahasa Malaysia in 2016 while secondary schools will fully use Bahasa Malaysia in 2021.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the decision to allow a gradual phasing out of English for the teaching of the two subjects was made in the best interests of the estimated five million students in the country and after taking into account the views of parents and various groups.

At the same time, he said, the Education Ministry would take steps to strengthen the teaching of English as a subject under the upholding the Malay language and strengthening the command of English policy. (MBMMBI).

Ghafar said the decision to discontinue the PPSMI was based on a month-long survey of 9,519 primary and secondary schools by the ministr y's Education Policy and Research Division which revealed that 70 per cent of those who had the option to learn the subjects in both languages, opted to study in Bahasa Malaysia fully.

The study showed that less than five per cent of the number of classes at 7,495 primary schools fully used English for the teaching and learning of the subjects. At the secondary level, less than nine per cent of the classes at 2,192 schools fully adopted PPSMI.

"So we are heading in the right direction by introducing the MBMMBI," Ghafar added.

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Kredit: www.nst.com.my

Sabtu, 5 November 2011