Malaysia encouraging students to master a third language
20 December, 2018
Malaysia's Education Minister Maszlee Malik said on Tuesday (Dec 18) that his ministry was committed to seeing Malaysians master a third or even fourth language, including Arabic.
The education ministry is collaborating with various parties at both local and international levels to strengthen efforts towards getting students to learn a foreign language, he told Bernama after delivering his speech at an event for World Arab Language Day 2018 in Selangor.
“In 2011, the Malaysian education ministry had undertaken a comprehensive review of the country's education system as part of its plans to develop a new education plan for the country," said the minister.
"Towards this, the ministry had underlined 11 main measures to transform the country's education system, with one of them being the enhancement of language skills among students including Malay, English and Arab and encouraging them to learn other foreign languages as well."
World Arab Language Day is celebrated on Dec 18 annually to mark the selection of Arabic by the United Nations as one of the official languages of the international body.
Dr Abdul Razif Zaini, Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization director for Malaysia, said there were also non-Muslim participants for the event's Arabic calligraphy competition, reflecting how advanced technology was in attracting the interest and creativity of students to learn the Arabic language.
Razif said his organisation also launched a seminar on learning Arabic to encourage students from Malaysia and Southeast Asia to learn the language. Participants were from Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam and China.
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