No Interlok reclaim order at 80 schools

More than 80 secondary schools have yet receive instructions to reclaim the novel Interlok, distributed to Form 5 students last year, despite a cabinet decision on the matter last month.

Chairperson of the pressure group National Interlok Action Team (Niat), Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim, said a telephone survey of 100 schools conducted by his group showed that 80 of them have yet to receive any written instruction from district education offices to reclaim the book from the students.

The schools surveyed were from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya and Negri Sembilan.

At a press conference with Ngeow Chow Ying, the vice-chairperson of the civil rights committee of the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, Thasleem said he had received more than 600 complaints from the parents on the matter.
Of the 100 schools, Thasleem noted that most of those that did not receive the circular were in rural areas.

He also said that 39 schools in Klang didn’t receive the circular from their district education office.

He said the parents quoted numerous reasons given by the schools, among others:

• There was no official letter from the district education office;

• Students were asked to keep Interlok until the new novel named Konserto Terakhir was received from the Education Ministry;

• Students were asked to keep the novel at home for leisure reading; and

• Students need not worry as there won't be questions based on the book in the SPM Bahasa Malaysia paper.

However, Thasleem said, there still were a number of schools  waiting to receive copies of the Konserto Terakhir from the ministry.

'Get your children to return the book'

Since Interlok will no longer be used as a school textbook any more, Thasleem urged parents to get their children to return the book back to their schools.

However, he noted, some of the students were refusing to return the novel back to the school, as they are afraid of being detained by the police, as had happened at a school in Kuala Kuba Baru.

“We can give the children the assurance that it is official: Interlok is no longer to be used as a school Malay literature text, so please return it back to the respective teachers in charge,” he added.

On Dec 21, the ministry announced that Konserto Terakhir, also authored by national laureate Abdullah Hussain, would replace Interlok as the textbook for the Malay literature component for Form Five students from this year.

Education director-general Abd Ghafar Mahmud said the textbook replacement concerned students in Zone Two, covering Negri Sembilan, the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and Selangor.

Niat, Thasleem said, would carry out the second round of its survey on Jan 18, to ensure that students no longer continue to hold on to their copies of Interlok.


Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/186429