PETALING JAYA: The collaboration between Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) and New Era University College to train Chinese language teachers is a milestone achieved.

UPSI will be offering education courses to students majoring in Chinese language at New Era University College, where the students will be awarded a diploma in education from UPSI after completing the 15-month program.

New Era University College graduates will then be able to become teachers at government schools.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said he would contact private universities offering Chinese language courses in Malaysia to include a diploma in education based on the collaboration model between UPSI and New Era.

He is of the view that once the model starts, it will enlarge the pool of Chinese language teachers for Chinese primary and secondary schools in the country.

The collaboration will also see more employment opportunities for private university graduates.

In an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily, Dr Mah said he had proposed that government schools open up vacancies of teachers to private university graduates in an internal meeting.

He is of the view that getting local private university graduates to take up a diploma in education would be one way to resolve the problem of teacher shortage.

A major breakthrough

New Era University College Vice Chancellor Dr Mok Soon Chong said the meeting on its collaboration with UPSI to allow private university students to pursue education courses offered by the government and then become teachers at government schools was a breakthrough.

In a phone interview, he said the collaboration would see students having more options and would help mitigate the shortage of teachers at the same time.

“It’ll be a breakthrough for private university graduates from Chinese schools to become government school teachers,” he said.

Dr Mok said many students majoring in Chinese language aspired to become teachers but they did not have the opportunity to take up education courses in order to become government school teachers.

They will only be able to teach at private schools.

UPSI has also agreed to offer education courses recognized by the government to teachers currently teaching at Chinese independent schools.

Details will be sorted out between Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia) and UPSI.