Factors for Provision of Mother Tongue Languages in Secondary Schools

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Education (a) what are the parameters for deciding on offerings for mother tongue languages (MTLs) in Secondary schools; and (b) what are the reasons for not requiring all Secondary schools to offer classes for all three official MTLs (Chinese, Malay and Tamil).

The provision of mother tongue language (MTL) instruction in a school is dependent on factors such as the availability of MTL teachers and the number of students offering the MTL. Currently, all Secondary school students who are offered Chinese Language or Malay Language can access instruction within their school. Tamil Language (TL) instruction is available in most but not all Secondary schools, due to the very limited supply of TL teachers and the very small TL student enrolment in some schools.

Students from Secondary schools that are unable to offer TL instruction can attend lessons at one of 11 regional TL centres, or at the Umar Pulavar TL Centre. This allows us to optimise the deployment of our limited pool of TL teachers to support all TL students. With this approach, every Secondary student can have access to TL instruction regardless of the Secondary school they are in, though it requires some TL students to travel to a nearby centre for TL instruction.

MOE will continue to provide the necessary support to schools for TL instruction.