Igmm S Vernacular School Legal Challenge Set For March 20 Next Year

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The High Court sitting in Kota Bharu has set March 20 next year for the full hearing of Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia’s (IGMM) lawsuit over the legality of vernacular schools in Malaysia.
The group’s counsel Shaharudin Ali said that judge Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas set the hearing date during case management of the matter earlier today.
The lawyer said that the court directed parties to file their written submissions, the latest by Feb 28 next year.
“The full hearing of oral submissions by the legal teams has been fixed for March 20, 2022, at 2.30pm, via physical court hearing,” Shaharudin said in a media statement today.
On Feb 20 last year at the High Court in Kota Bharu, IGMM, through its president Mohd Azizee Hasan, filed a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of vernacular schools.
The legal action named the federal government and the education minister (who is not named) as the defendants.
The group seeks a declaration that Sections 17 and 28 of the Education Act 1996, which permits the use of Mandarin and Tamil as a medium of instruction in Chinese and Tamil schools, are inconsistent with the Federal Constitution.
Section 17 of the Education Act stipulates that the national language shall be the main medium of instruction in all educational institutions in the National Education System, except for national-type schools under Section 28 or others given an exemption by the education minister.
Section 28 of the same Act allows the education minister to establish both national schools and national-type schools.
Besides IGMM, other groups such as Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS), Majlis Pembangunan Pendidikan Islam Malaysia (Mappim), and Coalition of National Writers’ Association (Gapena) have also previously filed a similar legal action to compel vernacular schools to drop their current usage of Chinese and Tamil as the mediums of instruction.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has previously fixed Dec 29 this year for a decision on the legal challenge by GPMS, Mappim and Gapena. - Mkini

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