KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 15 (Sin Chew daily) – The United Chinese School Committees' Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) president Tan Tai Kim said 98.29% of Chinese primary schools in West Malaysia objected to the inclusion of Jawi calligraphy in Year 4 Bahasa Malaysia textbooks.

He told Sin Chew Daily that a survey conducted by the association showed that only 17 schools agreed to the introduction of Jawi in BM curriculum, namely seven in Perak, four in Johor, two each in Kedah and Selangor, and one each in Penang and Negeri Sembilan.

"Only micro schools with student population below ten, mostly non-Chinese, have agreed to it."

Tan also said all SJKCs in Perlis, Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan, as well as Kuala Lumpur, objected to the policy, adding that data for East Malaysia was still being collected.

"It is more important to improve the students' command of Bahasa Malaysia, as it is our national language. And the survey shows that it is meaningless to introduce Jawi at school as it is a waste of our precious time and resources."

Meanwhile, National Union of Heads of Schools Lim Mei Qin said all SJKCs in Kuala Lumpur objected to the inclusion of Jawi in BM curriculum, while only two in Selangor agreed to it.

"Both schools are micro schools, one with eight non-Chinese students and the other with a single non-Chinese student."

She explained that the schools sent out Google Forms to the parents this year instead of physical forms due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the rules set by the education department was that parents who did not take part in the online survey were deemed to have agreed to the teaching of Jawi at their schools.

"We called up some parents and they objected verbally but did not fill in the forms.

"Fewer schools are expected to object to the teaching of Jawi this year probably because of the trouble of having to fill in Google Forms."