Official Languages and National Language Act


Official languages and national language
153A. —(1) Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English shall be the 4 official languages in Singapore.

(2) The national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script:

Provided that —

(a) no person shall be prohibited or prevented from using or from teaching or learning any other language; and

(b) nothing in this Article shall prejudice the right of the Government to preserve and sustain the use and study of the language of any other community in Singapore.

According to the constitution, no ethnic group (or sub group) would be restricted in the study of its language. Though, the study of these languages( of the sub groups) in the mainstream schools, may not be possible due to the highly varying and insufficient demand, these ethnic groups are free to conduct classes and lobby for the maintainance of their respective languages.