YOURSAY | ‘Mastering khat is a talent, and should be left to those interested to learn it.’

‘Can’t force everyone to learn calligraphy’ - Rafidah weighs in on khat

The Wakandan: Well said, former minister Rafidah Aziz. She is one of the sane voices left.

The Education Ministry should stop adding frivolous subjects in the school syllabus. Focus on things that matter - maths, science, and English.

Anyway, Jawi (and khat) in Bahasa Malaysia can be considered a thing of the past when the decision was made to adopt the Roman lettering for our national language.

Malaysia2018: Spot on, Rafidah. Yes, learn a language that will enhance your career.

Abolish frivolous subjects which do not add value to one’s career. Does the Moral Studies subject add value to anyone’s career?

In fact, with Moral Studies, there is more immorality today than in the earlier days when it was not taught at schools.

Today we have bribery, corruption and kleptocracy (a new word in our vocabulary). What an irony. Now, we wish to add calligraphy so that we could “draw” more money from bank accounts?

Iskandar Agus Sulaiman: Education Minister Maszlee Malik should just call this off before the issue gets out of hand.

I don’t want my child to study khat. In fact, I never did any calligraphy at any time during my schooldays.

Khat should be introduced as an elective subject for those who are interested and can be done on their own time.

Khat is not all that important. The teaching of Maths and Science in English and the English language itself is more important and should be given priority.

For Chinese schools, first make sure the level of Bahasa Malaysia among students is improved and on par with that of national school students.

There are many Chinese-educated persons in Malaysia today who can't speak Bahasa Malaysia fluently. This is because at the primary level, there wasn’t sufficient emphasis given on the national language.

Get these more important education issues settled first in the primary schools before thinking of making khat compulsory. As Rafidah said, leave khat to only those who want to learn it.

Warrant Addict: One must learn Jawi first before understanding and writing khat.

Don't confuse people by saying students need to write in khat only without knowing its meaning or purpose.

Yes, stick to focusing only on mastering and improving Bahasa Malaysia. The learning of khat can be left to religious classes.

Annonnymous 080: There is something amiss with the education minister’s and Education Ministry’s justification.

At first, it was just to learn how to write beautifully. Then it morphed into learning poems, sayings, proverbs, etc, in khat? Isn’t all of that in Jawi?

For students to understand khat, they first need to understand each alphabet in the Jawi script before making up a word, and then, sentence.

Isn’t only learning to write khat without understanding it considered pointless? So, what’s the real justification here?

Anonymous_7d1ca773: Thank you Rafidah for being vocal.

I wish you are the education minister with your no-nonsense character to transform our education curriculum to bring better values and mould our young generations to meet the challenges of current and future employment market.

Awang Top: If Mahathir could come back to active duty, so could Rafidah. So far, she has been a voice of conscience to the Pakatan Harapan government.

Judging from her past ministerial performance, I wish she could come back and take up a senior ministerial post.

My brother used to work in the ministry that she headed, and everyone without exception praised her for her efficiency and performance, not to mention her quick gun-blazing speeches.

She may have flaws and makes mistakes, but she is 100 times better than our current Bersatu ministers.

Kamikasi: If the ministry is concerned about improving writing through calligraphy, please assess the students’ atrocious handwriting first.

Improve on this rather than introducing khat. Indeed, khat can be placed under co-curriculum activities.

Anonymous 133971438080786: The world is moving towards modernisation and delving into new technology.

Educators should take the initiative to expose our children to these subjects but here we are arguing about making khat compulsory in schools.

Our education standard is failing, and with a minister like Maszlee around, it doesn’t inspire hope for those who want the present education system to improve and produce forward-thinking students.

I feel sorry for our children. I hope PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim will take drastic measures to rectify this sorry situation when he becomes prime minister.

Anonymous_1560865429524: And meanwhile, in Singapore and Thailand, kids are learning computer codes to create software and apps.

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