Nanyang Siang Pau, November 06, 2014

Kuala Lumpur, Nov 5 — United Chinese School Alumni Association of Malaysia (UCSAAM) president Tan Pong Soo said the standard of Chinese essay writings had shown sign of declining, this was a malaise of the Chinese community. He urged the students to sit for the Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) exam Chinese paper to avoid limiting their own prospect.

He said some of the SPM students had given up the Chinese paper for fear of unable to score A+ on the subject which would affect their chances of obtaining Public Service Department (PSD) scholarship.

“Many of these students are outstanding students with excellent results, if the situation remains unchecked, it will not only affect the number of students enrolled in the Chinese language department in the universities but will also see the drop in standard of the Chinese language in the country.”

Growing importance of Chinese language globally

He added that the PSD scholarships could not meet the needs of all the students and, thus, they should not lose greater for the less, as their prospect will be limited if they choose to abandon the Chinese language. He hoped the students, parents and school authorities should rethink their decision not to sit for the Chinese language paper in SPM exam.

According to him, Chinese language was the second most commonly used language globally; China had even surpassed USA to become the biggest economic nation in the world. Hence, the economic value of Chinese language was even greater. He hoped parents would encourage their children to read and write in Chinese more frequently in order to raise the standard of Chinese language in the country.

He said this at the prize presentation ceremony of the 19th National Essay Competition held here.

Tan Pong Soo also hoped the Federal government would follow the step taken by the Sarawak state government in allocation of RM3 million for 14 Chinese independent secondary schools in the state, and to institutionalize the allocation of funds to Chinese schools.

On issue regarding the student of SMK Chong Hwa to sit for UEC exam, he said the Chinese community should point their spearhead outside and not inside, they should try to solve the problem based on win-win situation which benefits the Chong Hwa students.

Original Source: 华文写作水平下滑是隐忧 陈鹏仕：SPM 考生勿放弃报考