He said the banners were not put up by the parent-teacher associations or the board of governors of the schools, but by a third party which did not have any connection to the schools.

“They printed many banners and hung them on the school fence on Saturday when the school was closed and the management staff were not at work. The local authorities should take down these banners,” said Noor Effandi, who is responsible for educational matters.

He said “the schools, PTAs and school boards of all national-type Chinese schools in Melaka are aware that parents have the right to choose whether the three introductory pages of Jawi script in the Bahasa Melayu textbook should be taught to Standard Four pupils or not”.

Yesterday, several photographs were widely-shared on social media, showing banners at several schools. The banners said in Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese that “This school does not agree to the Jawi script in the Bahasa Melayu curriculum”.