PENAMPANG, Sabah: The Sabah Government is proposing to strengthen support for the study of ethnic languages, particularly the Kadazandusun language, at the tertiary level by extending scholarships to students who choose to pursue the field.
Deputy Chief Minister III, Datuk Ewon Benedick, described the move as a strategic initiative to encourage more students to undertake Kadazandusun language studies, while ensuring a sufficient supply of qualified language teachers for schools in the state.
He noted that the Kadazandusun language is already part of Sabah’s school curriculum at both primary and secondary levels, and is also offered as a subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
“I will bring this proposal to the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, and the Sabah Cabinet to enable state government scholarships to be extended to students pursuing Kadazandusun language studies at Teacher Training Institutes and universities such as Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris and Universiti Malaysia Sabah, which offer the programme.
“I will raise this matter at the Cabinet meeting next week,” he told reporters after officiating the World Mother Language Day organised by the Kadazandusun Language Foundation (KLF) here today.
The event also saw the launch of the Kadazan-English-Malay Webonary, a socio-cultural project aimed at expanding digital access to Kadazan vocabulary, as well as the presentation of the Tan Sri Bernard Dompok Literary Award to winners of a Kadazandusun-language novel writing competition organised by KLF.
Meanwhile, Ewon welcomed efforts to expand the teaching of Kadazandusun in schools through the introduction of new ethnic language modules, namely Kadazan Tangaa, Murut Timogun, Dusun Lotud and Tatana, which are currently being held voluntarily as a pilot project.
“I will continue to engage in discussions with the federal government, including raising this matter in Parliament recently, and I am confident that this can be implemented,” he said.
Ewon, who is also Sabah Minister of Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transport, approved an allocation of RM150,000 to the KLF and the Sabah Ethnic Language Association to support programmes aimed at strengthening the state’s indigenous mother tongues.
The allocation will also assist the associations in developing more educational materials for the four proposed ethnic language modules to be introduced in primary schools across Sabah, he added. – BERNAMA
