PETALING JAYA: The Education Ministry has decided to maintain 12 teaching periods a week for Bahasa Melayu in national schools (SK), Chinese in Chinese national-type schools (SJKC) and Tamil in Tamil national-type schools (SJKT) under the implementation of School Curriculum 2027 (KP2027).

The ministry said the decision followed consultations with stakeholders on language teaching allocations under the new curriculum.

“The decision was reached after careful consideration and discussions, taking into account the views and suggestions raised during the engagement sessions.

“This decision ensures that the allocation of teaching periods for these languages will not be reduced,” the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

It also expressed its appreciation to all parties who had contributed their views and suggestions during the discussions.

It stressed that language proficiency and the learning needs of pupils across all school streams would remain a priority in the country’s curriculum reform efforts.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong had earlier stressed the need for sufficient classroom time, noting that SJKC pupils are expected to master about 2,800 Chinese characters over six years of primary education.

MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan has also urged the ministry to maintain the exis­ting allocation of 12 teaching periods for the Tamil language per week in SJKT schools, following a proposal to reduce it to 10 periods under the 2027 school curriculum restructuring.

He said the matter was raised in a letter to Education Minister Datuk Seri Fadhlina Sidek, which was also copied to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.