The Malaysian government has taken consistent efforts to ensure that Tamil is promoted in every sphere of education, and that students who are interested in learning the language have access to it, Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam, Minister of Health, Malaysia, said on Tuesday.
Speaking at an event organised to commemorate 200 years of Tamil education in Malaysia, Mr. Subramaniam said the country has 530 Tamil schools, which have over 10,000 teachers proficient in teaching the language. “The government has always been enthusiastic about imparting the language to students and we ensure that it is offered to them from the primary through high school levels and is also available as an option for them in colleges,” he said.
Mr. Subramaniam further added that this was being made possible through regular language training programmes for school teachers.
Members of the delegation from Malaysia, who were in Chennai for the event, said that the Malaysian government had initiated a year-long celebration to promote the language. As a part of the event in the city on Tuesday, an exhibition highlighting the evolution of Tamil education in Malaysia was also inaugurated. A symposium where Indian and Malaysian scholars presented papers on various topics in the language was also held.
Minister for Higher Education K.P. Anbazhagan, who delivered the keynote address, said the higher education department would be happy to support the Ministry of Education in Malaysia to introduce educational programs in Tamil at colleges there.
Seeking collaboration
“The State government will be receptive to collaborations between universities in the two countries. Tamil Nadu has been working towards promoting the language among Tamil communities across the world and as a part of this, funds had been allotted to the World Tamil Sangam to conduct symposiums in Malaysia and Singapore,” he added.
