The preservation of mother tongue education should not become collateral damage in the Education Ministry’s curriculum overhaul, said MIC deputy president M Saravanan.

As such, he voiced his “strong objection” to a proposal to reduce Tamil lessons in Tamil schools from 12 to 10 periods a week.

In a letter to Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek today, which was also forwarded to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Saravanan said the proposal to reduce Tamil lessons had triggered grave concerns among teachers, parents, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), and the wider Indian community.

At the heart of the controversy is a proposed curriculum overhaul that could see mother tongue teaching hours sacrificed to accommodate new subjects and modules.