Bandar Seri Begawan - Chinese students are more keen in learning Jawi, compared to Malay students, a teacher from St Andrews School revealed.
In an interview with The Brunei Times Karen Hu Chai Yun, who teaches Malay language and Geography at the missionary school, shared her observations that Chinese students were more interested to learn Jawi than Malay students.
"In the Penilaian Menengah Bawah (PMB) exams, students are given the choice of either translating Jawi to roman form, or a summarisation and most Malay students would chose the later," she explained.
Malay students are exposed to Jawi at an earlier age whereas Chinese students, who are more conscious of their academic performance, realize their handicap when it comes to the Jawi language, which has been an integral part of the national syllabus.
"Students might be learning Jawi, just‘ to pass the examinations, but they do not practise it after they have completed the PMB. What is important is that they have to be interested in it, which motivates them to learn more."
"Students who do not wish to learn do not realise what they are missing for not valuing this unique culture," she said.
"Jawi is another knowledge and skill, so by learning and knowing it, we have more advantage," she added.
Karen explained that, the situation was the same with Malays who are able to read and write Chinese, in which it is an extra advantage for them, and provides more, resources that could be utilised in life.
The teacher, who participated in a week-long Jawi course for non-Muslims at the Islamic Da‘wah Centre, explained that, "as Jawi is part of the syllabus, I wanted to learn myself, so that I can teach my students, and it‘s all worth it, as I‘m learning something new and valuable."
Dk Rofinah Pg Hj Ibrahim, a Primary Six Malay Language teacher shared the same opinion that Malay pupils tend to be lazy about learning Jawi.
She expressed her disappointment that "they just couldn‘t be bothered, and they were lacking behind the Chinese pupils."
Dk Rofinah assumed that the lack of attribution for Malay pupils to learn Jawi in classes could be owed to the fact that most of them attend religious school in the afternoon, in which all of the texts used are in Jawi.
However, this contradicts the fact that if students were already used to Jawi, why do the pupils not be active in it?
The teacher explained her reasoning that these pupils may feel confident and decide not to concentrate further in religious classes, adding that parents may also be another cause, in which they do not consider the Malay language subject to be as important as Mathematics, Science or English language.
Ustaz Hj Kadir Leong, a course coordinator from the Islamic Da‘wah Centre urged parents to learn Jawi, as role models for their children.
"Jawi is the basic. If they are fluent in Jawi, it would be easier for them to learn to recite the Holy Quran together."
He added that, from the explanation of both teachers that Malays were not keen on learning Jawi, this could be considered as an embarrassment, in that Malays who are more familiar with Jawi do not appreciate the advantage that they have.
Source: www.brudirect.com (30 November 2007)
