KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia March 20 (NNN-Bernama) -- The Cabinet has decided that the time for teaching Bahasa Malaysia and English be increased in the 2011 school year, said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the decision made at the Cabinet meeting yesterday was in line with efforts related to "Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the Command of English" (MBMMBI) among students following the abolishment of the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) programme last year.

However he said the school hours will not be increased but will be adjusted to be more creative and enjoyable for students.

"We will make changes from the co-curriculum aspect in line with changes," he told reporters after launching the 29th Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair (KLIBF) at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here on Saturday.

Under the MBMMBI effort, the teaching time for Bahasa Malaysia in national primary and secondary schools will remain at 240 minutes a week while the teaching time for English will be increased to 330 minutes a week, up from 240 minutes now.

In national type primary schools (Tamil and Chinese), the Bahasa Malaysia sessions will be increased from 270 minutes to 330 minutes a week.

For English the time will be increased to 120 minutes a week from just 60 minutes now.

On the limited reading material in school libraries, Muhyiddin called on more corporate bodies to donate books to school libraries as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Earlier, in his speech, Muhyiddin urged KLIBF to elevate its status to that of the Frankfurt Book Fair which was the largest in the world.

"I call for KLIBF's status to be enhanced and focused to be the 'Book Industry Trade Centre' at the very least for the Asian region in 10 years," he said.

According to him he was confident it could be achieved given that the value of cash trade at KLIBF 2009 alone was about RM20 million.

As such, he said, the National Book Council of Malaysia should also be ready to assist the book industry to achieve the goal.

"I propose this as I believe KLIBF has high potential to expand," he said.

Meanwhile, Education Director-General, Alimuddin Mohd Dom, who is also KLIBF chairman, said the fair this time around had 202 local and foreign participants with 856 booths.

He said the 10-day fair will be on until March 28 and it is expected to draw 1.5 million visitors.

At the event, Muhyiddin also launched the book titled 'Najib: People First, Performance Now' written by Aizuddin Muhammad Muaz.

The book about Prime MinisterNajib Tun Razak chronicles Najib's journey from the time he ventured into politics to when he became the prime minister.

The RM350 book is distributed by Karisma Production Sdn Bhd.

-- NNN-BERNAMA