JOHOR BARU: A total of 15 schools in Johor will be offering “Uphold Bahasa Malaysia and strengthen English” (MBMMBI) classes this year.
State Education, Information Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Committee chairman Md Jais Sarday said MBMMBI will be offered in 10 secondary schools and five primary schools.
The MBMMBI policy, introduced in 2011, will replace the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI) this year due to overwhelming requests from parents since it was announced that Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) was going to be abolished.
Jais, who visited Sekolah Kebangsaan Nong Chik here today, said the 15 schools were selected as they have the facilities and teachers for the bilingual programme.
A total of 56,585 pupils started primary education this year, compared to 54,326 last year, signifying an increase of 2,259 pupils in Primary One classes.
"Another new feature in the year's education scene is that Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) pupils will now have a total of five subjects — the additional one being English comprehension while Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools will have eight subjects instead of seven," Jais said.