Should Chinese students in Singapore be allowed to study their dialects in school? For example Indian students in Singapore can choose between studying Hindi, Urdu, Gujurati or Tamil.

I know many friends who are taking Chinese dialect classes at private establishments out of interest and a desire to reconnect with their heritage and roots. This could be extended to children -- it's not an academic subject per se but it can be taught as a third language or as part of a learning activity. In my opinion, it will be tough to offer dialect options in mainstream schools to everyone because it will be a logistical nightmare. A really good plan and syllabus will be needed to keep things standardized. I also think that offering different dialect options to Indian students have worked because they are a relatively smaller group compared to Chinese students. Imagine when it's time for students to break for mother tongue classes with all the different dialect groups (chinese, Indian, malay) -- all the different classrooms, different teachers etc etc. It will be a logistical nightmare

I would think it will be tougher since there is no formal structure (or at least that is what I thought) to dialect and there are quite a number of different dialect groups in Singapore. It may be difficult getting teachers to staff the school and come up with a formal curriculum for each group. Though I could see the benefits of having that option to keep our heritage "alive" given that it is slowly "disappearing" with the aging population. Still, I think it should be explored as a third language option (if it were to be implemented) and not as the mother tongue. Just my two cents.

Great question - I do think that not studying dialect leads to a loss of heritage and culture, but it makes it a lot easier for us as a nation to have everyone master one language.