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Today we signed a letter of declaration and acknowledgement to allow our boy to join the DLP (Dual Language Programme) to learn Maths, Science and Information Technology in English in school. We also acknowledged that the programme will continue its run up to Form 5 or Form 6 and we agree to remain committed towards the DLP programme throughout its entire duration.
The fact that we have to sign this letter shows that parents consent is required for the programme. Not only must parents give consent in writing to the school, the school must meet certain criteria eg. the HM and teachers must be willing to implement, the school must have competent teachers and adequate resources and the Bahasa Malaysia standard of that school must be higher or equal to the national average.
Many parents are excited and eager to join a "DLP school" but just what exactly is a DLP school?
Many parents are excited and eager to join a "DLP school" but just what exactly is a DLP school?
We still have many parents asking "What is DLP?"
Parents should note that a "DLP school" may not mean that ALL classes conduct Maths, Science and IT in English in the approved school. They may have some classes where the subjects are taught in English and other classes teaching in Bahasa Malaysia or other languages. That is what the "Dual" in Dual Languages Programme mean ie that these subjects are taught in TWO languages and parents have an option to choose.
Although DLP is fully taught in our kids school, they continue to receive the Math and Science books in BM for safekeeping....
We do not have statistics but judging from the discussion going on in our FB group, we do know that many parents are keen and are moving towards registering their kids in schools participating in the DLP programme. You can check our old post for the list of schools participating in the pilot programme and the list for the second cohort. By next year, 2018 the programme will be in its third year and it will be available to students from Std 1 up to Form 3.
An important thing to note is there are no SJKC in the list because SJKC is against the DLP Programme.
An important thing to note is there are no SJKC in the list because SJKC is against the DLP Programme.
This means that if you are in SJKC, you will not have the chance to participate in the DLP programme. Perhaps you can move on to join a SMK (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan) that participates in the DLP programme? However, as some parents in the group pointed out, perhaps the original SK students who graduate from primary school or SK doing DLP may have a better chance to get into the DLP classes of the feeder secondary school. That is one possible scenario you need to think about and it makes sense too.
All is not lost for those from SJKC. 76 SMJK received the green light to run the DLP in 2017. You can read more about SMJK in our old post here: Information on SMJK in Malaysia.
On the other hand, though there were some Tamil NGOs which said No to the DLP programme initially, there are about 47 SJKT in the 2017 list. However there were calls to revoke the approved Tamil schools while the Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan maintains that the Dual Language Programme (DLP) is not being forced upon any student or school. There are no secondary Tamil schools.
All is not lost for those from SJKC. 76 SMJK received the green light to run the DLP in 2017. You can read more about SMJK in our old post here: Information on SMJK in Malaysia.
On the other hand, though there were some Tamil NGOs which said No to the DLP programme initially, there are about 47 SJKT in the 2017 list. However there were calls to revoke the approved Tamil schools while the Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan maintains that the Dual Language Programme (DLP) is not being forced upon any student or school. There are no secondary Tamil schools.
To sum it up...
In short if you are in SK running dual programme, you can continue to a SMK running the dual programme.
If you are in SJKC that does not run the DLP, you can continue to SMK running the DLP (but there is a chance you will be given lower priority compared to students who had been under the programme all along from SK.) However, you can join the SMJK which runs the DLP.
If you are in SJKT, you can consider a SMK running the DLP (but there is a chance you will be given lower priority compared to students who had been under the programme all along from SK.) There are no Tamil secondary schools in Malaysia.
If you are in SJKC that does not run the DLP, you can continue to SMK running the DLP (but there is a chance you will be given lower priority compared to students who had been under the programme all along from SK.) However, you can join the SMJK which runs the DLP.
If you are in SJKT, you can consider a SMK running the DLP (but there is a chance you will be given lower priority compared to students who had been under the programme all along from SK.) There are no Tamil secondary schools in Malaysia.
Parents should understand what DLP is about and do proper planning if that is the path they wish to choose for their kids. Personally, my older one did Math and Science in English AND Chinese for a couple of years and later on in Chinese alone dropping English up to UPSR while the second did Math and Science fully in Chinese. They are now doing Math and Science in English in a school running DLP and they have no problems switching from Chinese to English. I suppose it helped that we have always taught them Math and Science concepts in English at home even though the language they used in school was Chinese.
The views expressed in this post are the author's own personal view and may not necessarily reflect or represent any school or authority.
