30,000 Kadazan dictionaries for schools

Kota Kinabalu: About 22,383 pupils, students and teachers statewide will soon have an English-Malay-Kadazandusun Beginner's Dictionary to help them learn and teach the language in schools.Some 30,000 copies would be distributed to 20 districts, specifically 320 schools that are currently teaching the language.

The publication of the dictionary was made possible through "A Literacy Project to Make Dreams Real for School children", which was initiated some time ago by the Rotary Clubs of Tanjung Aru, Kota Kinabalu and Penampang, with the Kadazandusun Language Foundation (KLF).

The project, which received funding through sponsorships from the Crocodile Foundation (Singapore), the GS & Trea Foundation and the Rotary International District 3310, was launched by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, in March.

On Friday, representatives (presidents and past presidents) from the Rotary Club of Tanjung Aru, Kota Kinabalu, Penampang and Garden City (Singapore), as well as representatives from the Crocodile Foundation and Rotary International, gathered in a simple ceremony at the KLF to witness the handing over of 2,554 copies of the English-Malay-Kadazandusun dictionary to the Penampang District Education Zone.

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Representing KLF for the handover was Philip Lasimbang, who also presented copies of the dictionary to representatives of the State Education Department.

Rita Lasimbang, who is author of the dictionary and Chief Executive Officer of KLF, was also present. Speaking for the Rotary Club of Tanjung Aru and on behalf of the KLF was Brenndon Keith Soh.

"This project is to support the teaching and learning of the Kadazandusun language in schools, and to supply the English-Malay-Kadazandusun Beginner's Dictionary as a basic material.

"We hope that this dictionary can also help people of other races to understand the Kadazandusun culture and their people's way of life," he said.

All 30,000 copies of the dictionaries were printed to a tune of RM90,000 (RM3 per copy).

The trial teaching of the Kadazandusun language was introduced in 1997, involving Primary 4 pupils in 15 schools and was later fully implemented in Primary 4 to Primary 6 in 2000.

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The trial teaching of the language was also introduced to Form 1 students in 2006 and was later fully implemented in Form 1 to Form 3 (with PMR) in 2009.

It was also introduced as trial teaching in Form 4 in the same year.

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