Six years ago, the Cabinet under Tun Mahathir took a hasty and ill-considered decision to rush headlong to implement the PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik – teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English) from Std One for all primary schools, totally without proper or adequate preparation making five million Malaysian school children in the primary schools guinea pigs of BN politicians in the past six years.
Today, the Cabinet under Datuk Seri Najib Razak in trying to undo the failures and disasters of the ill-considered Cabinet decision six years ago after wasting RM4 billion of public funds, is again committing the folly of another ill-considered decision that will victimize millions of Malaysian students by making them “guinea pigs” of BN politicians for a second time in their 11-year primary and secondary education.
It is shocking beyond belief that Cabinet Ministers and Education Ministry officials could be so irresponsible and unprofessional as to turn million of students into “guinea pigs” for their half-baked educational experiments twice in a decade.
Students in Form 1 this year will continue to be taught maths and science in English until Form 3 in 2011, having spent the past six years in primary school with English as the medium of instruction for these two subjects under PPSMI.
However, when they come to Form 4 in 2012, they will become “guinea pigs” a second time, when medium of instruction for these two subjects are switched back to Bahasa Malaysia in line with the Cabinet decision on Wednesday – continuing into Form 5.
In 2013, when they sit for SPM, they will have to cope with mathematics and science in Bahasa Malaysia although they were taught the two subjects in English medium for the first nine of the 11 years of their primary and secondary education.
It is not only this batch of students who will be victimized and made second-time guinea pigs by the BN Ministers and politicians, but an entire generation of school-going children from 2003 to 2013 and beyond!
To say the least, such thoughtless and careless attitude is a most irresponsible and crazy way to run the education system of a country.
MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said MCA is of the view that the use of English as medium of instruction for Forms 4 or 5 should be maintained even after 2012 – but the question is why the four MCA Ministers and the Gerakan and MIC Ministers failed to ensure that this is part of the Cabinet decision last Wednesday?
This is another example of the failure of MCA, Gerakan and MIC Ministers to speak up loud and clear and ensure that the Cabinet does only what is right and good for the people and nation and not just to serve certain political objectives.
Former Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah and the Deputy Education Minister Dr. Mohd Puad Zarkashi have openly admitted that the RM4 billion PPMSI experiment in the past six years had been “a failure”.
If the RM4 billion PPMSI in the past six years had been a failure, what is the rationale and justification for the Cabinet decision to defer its abolition until three years later in 2012 instead of immediate implementation next year?
The Cabinet decision on PPSMI on Wednesday is unprofessional and more politically motivated than based on the educational interests of the students and the national needs to create the conditions for an internationally competitive Malaysia which is capable of fully exploiting the human and natural resources of the country to become a high-income nation.
The Cabinet next week should urgently revisit its unprofessional, political and disastrous decision last Wednesday to undo its disastrous PPSMI decision with a four-point remedy in line with national aspirations to be internationally competitive to become a high-income nation, viz:
- As the Education Ministry has admitted that the PPSMI from Std. One is a RM4 billion six-year failure, confirming the DAP stand since 2002 that PPSMI should not be introduced at Std. One as a “One Size Fits All” solution for all schools, but only at higher standards, the abolition of the PPSMI from Std. One for all schools should take immediate effect from next year and not be deferred until 2012. Why should a policy admitted as a “failure” be continued for another three years?
-
Flexibility in dealing with the problems of the different-medium primary schools with the objectives of raising the standards of proficiency in English, mathematics and science while maintaining Bahasa Malaysia as a compulsory subject.
National, Chinese and Tamil primary schools should be given room to strengthen the proficiency of their students in the three subjects or all of them where they are weak – for instance allowing Chinese primary school students who are all along strong in maths and science to focus on English proficiency while national and Tamil primary school students have special programmes to uplift their proficiency in all these three subjects.
In keeping with a flexible approach which is not tied down to a “One Size Fits All”, there should be choice for parents to pick the type of education they want for their children – including having classes or schools using English as medium for instruction for mathematics and science. Six years ago, Mahathir broached the idea of the possibility of the government re-introduction of the English-medium school system to arrest the decline of the standard of English. This proposal should be seriously revisited by the Cabinet, Parliament and the Malaysian public.
- The Cabinet decision to fully revert back to Bahasa Malaysia as medium of instruction for maths and science for Forms 1 and 4 in 2012 should be modified so as not to make Malaysian schoolchildren guinea-pigs not once but twice in half-baked educational experiments – allowing the PPSMI in secondary forms or giving choice to parents and schools to teach these subjects in the English medium.
- Set up a mechanism, whether Cabinet or parliamentary committee to make proposals as to how the educational system could become more flexible, liberal and innovative to allow parents the choice to decide on the medium of instruction for their children in maths and science, both primary and secondary, in line with the national aspirations to be internationally competitive to become a high-income nation.
There are simply not enough English-qualified teachers to teach Science and Mathematics in both the rural and urban schools. That is the reason a mixture of English and Malay is used by many teachers in classrooms today. And watch out for 2012 when billions of ringgit are to be utilized to retrain the Science and Mathematics teachers to teach in BM from English.
We do not even have enough QUALIFIED teachers. Standards have dropped even in the Unis, Malaysian unis are dropping in ranking, dropping fast too.
Mahathir seeking internet opinion for his support on the english teaching for science and mathematics in school. i think he is a fool if internet opinion can work then,
What about the abolishment of ISA
What about the dissolving of Perak State Assembly
What about the sacking of the AG ghani
what about the false story on Anwar sodomy that created by the Mamak and many others. can we too use internet opinion to judge?
Do the decison-makers have first-hand knowledge of what is happening to our education system ? Highly unlikely since their children and their children’s children all go to international schools, with a view to enrolling in foreign universities.
They are so out of touch it is frightening. The mere fact that they all want to go for international schools and universities mean that they know something is wrong with the local system, but unless you are deep in it (the local system) you won’t be able to fix it adequately.
Godfather … DPM had no idea you can fail English and go to Form 6 … we are doomed huh?
The education system in Malaysia like many other vital institutions like the PDRM and the Judiciary have failed and it is going to be difficult to fix the system using the BN vehicle.
The model is obsolete and just changing the driver is not going to work anymore.
Those parents who want their children to study in English can consider Singapore but be prepared to repeat a year as our standard is lower than theirs. But your child will have to sit a test before he or she is admitted to any class.
http://malaysiawatch4.blogspot.com/2009/07/quo-vadis-with-english-language.html
HJ Angus … the system is broken, its ailing but the powers that be cannot say it is. Better to say its fine but needs refinement when they are most unsure as to what needs to be done. Or maybe the leaders are totally out of touch and rely on idiotic advisers who have no inkling as to what needs to be done?
I seriously think those kampung malays are been victimised further when government announced the teaching will be switched back to Bahasa. Look around those MPs, their children, those datuk datuk’s children, those royal families….they send their kids oversea when they are young. They will come back to lead those kampung boys and girls.
What is wrong with government? Isn’t it much more easier to train or recruit more english teachers overseas? why scrap the whole system instead of perfecting it? For those who support this idea in our government, I do smell fish coming out from their mouths. They send their kids oversea , why? Why ? Our eductation system is no good at all? They deny/ reject our system and now espects our children to take bahasa in math and science. How to compete in this global world?
Again, I think this political driven ideas will make majority young buniputras more vulnerable while those “capable” english educated malay children will come back and lead them in future. How pathetic and malays nowadays still don’t know they been victimised from now on.
BOTTOM LINE…..LEAVE POLITICS OUT OF EDUCATION!
PPSMI is the brainchild of former PM Tun Mahathir Mohamad and now that it is scrapped and abolished effective 2012, the
Mentor is definitely furious about its demise. He has since run a poll on it in his blog where so far 75% has opposed the move and he will let the Najib’s government know of the final survey eventually.
We will have more of Tun M’s wrath and fury in the coming days! Let’s wait and see.
walao:
Objective is – Again, I think this political driven ideas will make majority young buniputras more vulnerable
Execution is – “they send their kids oversea when they are young. They will come back to lead those kampung boys and girls.”
Irony is – How pathetic and malays nowadays still don’t know they been victimised from now on.
I pity those “guinea pigs” put on trial for 6 long years just because our leaders decided that English is a better language to teach Maths and Science! In the first place, why did they change the teaching of these two subjects which were originally taught in English? Changing the language of instructions will definitely be a burden to students.
In today’s papers, we find Najis saying teaching of these two subjects will be in the mother tongue in primary schools, and will be taught in Bahasa Malaysia in the lower secondary. But OTK proposed to have these two subjects taught in English in Form 4 and Form 5.
To a student who attended Chinese primary school, this will DEFINITELY be a burden! Imagine, he has to study maths and science in Chinese during his primary days, then study them in BM for three years in lower secondary and finally for the next two years in English!
Is the government taking these school kids for a ride?
There is a chinese proverbs ” to slaughter a chicken, you don have to use a bull’s slaughtering big knife/chop”
It is much more easier to train/employ english teachers oversea. Today they said their focus is still on english. But we have to scrap our science and math book again, all teaching will be totally mix up, our children more confuse and ” lagi stupid” and more money will be used for this change. This is not a solution . More like self denial strategy.
Our government acts like a baby, speak likes a toddler, but actually a master of confusion.
The ability of Najib’s cabinet in making a good quality decision is really questionable. Take a look at the decision for abolition of PPSMI, which had been unprudently made without recommending an improved alternative system but just simply suggesting to revert to the old out-dated system as a replacement by year 2012. Najib’s cabinet members simply do not know how to improve the English standard of our primary school students and the secondary school students. What is the point of requiring the secondary school students to learn Science and Mathematics with Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction when most secondary school students will have adequate exposure to English after six years’ studying Basic English in the primary school?
I agree that the primary school students should learn Science and Mathematics in their respective native language in the primary school. However, for secondary school students, English should be adopted as the medium of instruction for learning Science and Mathematics because our secondary school students need much more opportunities in order to learn English as an international language for preparation to compete in the global economy. Learning Bahasa Malaysia and native language of the minority groups should be just for the purpose of cultural preservation but learning English is the ultimate solution to improve the nation’s competitiveness in the international market.
There have been proposals that the government allow individual schools to decide whether and when to implement the mother tongue or English as the medium of instruction.
Cannot one lah! Then all the good jobs will go to those students who are from the English medium schools, while all the Malay medium kids would have to go to the kampungs to take care of the cattle and goats, as is happening in Kg Buah Pala.
Najib’s cabinet members are not only incapable in making a right decision for the endeavour of teaching of English as a second language in Malaysia. The cabinet members are also deemed to be a poor negotiator in the business deal with mainland China.
After Najib’s recent official visit to mainland China, the purchase orders for Crude Palm Oil from the Chinese Government have dropped significantly, causing the price of oil palm’s Fresh Fruit Brunches (FFP) dropping sharply from RM440 per tonne in June 2009 to RM320 per tonne in early July 2009. What has Najib really done which made the National Chairman Hu JinTao being displeased? Some people said that mainland China had been displeased because Najib rejected the application of Bank of China for approval to open up new branches in Malaysia. If this is true, then Najib’s capability as an efficient international negotiator is questionable!
when the kids of tomorrow (learning bm’s more important according to bm) has a tough time in future with especially outside world when it comes to communications in english), i hope these children will go around spanking on those who support this change in the first place because they are the ones who make you un-educated!!!.
just because some finds the language tough, bn should see to it that the ‘guru’ in science and maths must at first prove to be good in english before sending him/her to teaching this subject at their preferred language instead !!!
i think bn make a very big mistake here. i thought they will continue the subjects in english while at the same time, train or employ good english teachers plus giving EXTRA HOURS to the students on english especailly to those who are poor at it.
admit it. a word is a word with its own meaning and defination. to know more via education should be one of present government of the day.
since bm is feared to ‘disappear’ , i now hope to see najib, muyhiddin,anwar and especially RAIS YATIM to START TALKING IN BM to international people and TELL those foreigners to learn bm if they fail to undrstand what you buggers are talking about!!! see how far the bm language goes…..amaze and convience me and eapecially the students of tomorrow please.
today, i went to a malaysian government office counter. at first sight, all the people serving at the counter look very friendly. i get a number & its my turn. here’s what happened :
Me: ‘ cau sin ‘
Counter: her head look up and we have eyes contact.
Me: i suddenly realise she’s not a chinese though she looks like one. so i quickly changed language and says ‘ good morning ‘
Counter: we still has eyes contact but her eyes are bigger. her mouth want to speak but can’t.
Me: seeing this, i change bahasa AGAIN and utter ‘ selamat pagi ‘ .
Counter: NOW ONLY SHE RESPONDS!!!!
from the above, i feel as follows:
1) when i said ‘cau sin’, i don’t blame the lady for not understanding because maybe she went to a national school during her childhood days.
2) however, when i said ‘good morning’, it surprised me she didn’t want to respond for fear i might talk to her using the english language. this makes me wander what the hell has her school done to her or did she not bother about the importance of english.
3) once i said ‘selamat pagi’ ,everything’s ok. however, i feel myself PROUD AND INTELLIGENT not because i am but SHE MADE ME because i can speak 3 different languages at ANYTIME AT ANY PLACE !!!
so, thank you to the government who during my time, english was the medium used. i suspect this ‘poor lady’ must be after my time. so, the point here is….how do you want yourself or your kids to be look at by others ??? look as like PROUD & INTELLIGENT or look like STUPID BLUR BLUR and be laughed at IN THE FRONT & AT THE BACK!!!
More than 53 years….still not sure…wasting years …wasting billions.
Yes..school children are treated as guinea pigs.
They keep focusing how to win votes or not to loose any…in everything and anything they do..say or act.
It is backward…forward…even side ways.
I bet you….if the present decision got UMNO members go the streets and looking for Najib’s backside….they will quickly respond and go back to the old system…fearing to loos more votes.
Right now…sound nice and sensible…may win some votes..but LKS have exposed them again and again…..the sides we seldom can see….unless you are LKS…..using children as guinea pigs…so true.
UMNO is in deep shit position.
Wait for few signs….arrests or kissing a baby…by Najib.
More than 53 years….still not sure…wasting years …wasting billions.
Yes..school children are treated as guinea pigs.
They keep focusing how to win votes or not to loose any…in everything and anything they do..say or act.
It is backward…forward…even side ways.
I bet you….if the present decision got UMNO members go the streets and looking for Najib’s backside….they will quickly respond and go back to the old system…fearing to loos more votes.
Right now…sound nice and sensible…may win some votes..but LKS have exposed them again and again…..the sides we seldom can see….unless you are LKS…..using children as guinea pigs…so true.
UMNO is in difficult position.
Wait for few signs….arrests or kissing a baby…by Najib.
bad news for on going students, good news for 2012 standard one pupil.
The fact is that English has been “brutally murdered” since the mid seventies and I was one of the last of its kind having finished my HSC in 1973. The shift to have the medium of instructions into BM had resulted in a terrible fall in the standard of English in schools. Secondary students today write English essays which even the Englishmen cannot understand!
They do not teach English as a language in schools anymore but they teach kids something called “communication”! Just want to know how one can communicate effectively when they cannot even understand or use basic grammar? English is not an easy subject to master and it is definitely not a “two minute noodle”. Having exposed these kids to BM for more than 2 decades has resulted in their decline in English. What makes the government think that by teaching Science and Maths in English, it will help students improve in the language?
But, undeniably, Science and Maths are two very technical subjects which the BM vocabulary cannot cover. Many of the words have to be “borrowed” and this totally defeats learning these two subjects in BM! All in all, I can only express my condolence to those students who have been treated as “guinea pigs” in the great experiment set about by the BN government!
Malaysians do not read as much as they should. o, how can the standards of English, or education, be raised? TDM, Najib, KJ and all cabinet Ministers sere English-educated, and it is puzzling why they still do not know where has gone wrong and come out with effective measures to arrest the declining standard of English among the students?
Train as many reading skills teacher a possible. Get the students to be interested in English story books first. I recall that during our lower secondary school years we used to read Hardy Boys and horror story books. Not only did we enjoy the detective stories, we also learned English Grammar and vocabulary at the same time.
Since the government can well afford RM4 billion just to improve proficiency in English, why not spend a tiny fraction of it to make story books freely available to students to promote reading culture and proficiency of English among the students?
If the medium of instruction in universities in Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia, then it makes sense to have the subjects of mathematic and science and in fact all other subjects taught in Bahasa Malaysia. It does not make sense to have it in one language in secondary school and another in the universities. The medium of instruction in vernacular schools is the respective ‘mother’ tongue serves a specific purpose of catering to the learning and use of mother tongue.
Universities in Thailand used Thai for teaching in universities, and they have English used alongside technical terms.
Taiwan uses English textbooks but taught or lectured in Chinese.
Japanese too uses Japanese for university education. But in Japanese they have a set of alphabets specially meant for transcribing the sound of foreign words into Japanese. So, they could have the original English or German words beside the Japanese translation.
It is true that to depend on translation of foreign work into Bahasa Malaysia would not be as easy as those translated into English, Japanese, or Chinese. These countries have the resources and the market for the translated text.
If it is the intention of the government to use Bahasa Malaysia in tertiary education, then we should follow the method adopted by Japan. The original English terms should be put in parenthesis beside the Malay terms. Or to avoid confusion, simply make use of those terms that originated from elsewhere, without converting them into Malay spelling.
Language should not be an emotional matter. India accepts English as its own. Malaysia can do the same too. So in communicating on technical terms, it would be acceptable to include the original sounding words. If that is acceptable, then it should make sense to have English used as a medium of instruction in the universities. For that purpose, English should be as a medium of instruction for subjects other than Bahasa Malaysia and literature in that language. The objective of improving the standard and use of Bahasa Malaysia might be better attained in teaching additional hours in literature. In fact, that subject help to cultivate Malaysian culture too.
BN government sometimes has good objective, but they have a knack of doing the wrong things for the correct objective. One suspects whether they are ever sincere in saying what they wish to achieve, or they might have an ulterior motive for which they have successful covered them with the corrective objective.
PPSMI was incorrect in its coverage of the primary schools. Whatever little gained after spending RM 4.5 million would be totally wasted with a complete reversal. It might be BN’s intention to teach the citizens a lesson that if they protest, the cure would be worse than the ills.
No need to debate long and wide. Just bring back the Full English schools as another choice for those who wish to go to such schools. It is fair and square; those who want to continue going to Malay, Chinese or Indian schools may do so at their own peril. Give us the choice. What national language and national pride are we talking about when most of our leaders’ children are studying in schools outside the Malaysia’s educational system anyway?
I dare to wager with anyone: if we bring back the full English schools, parents (Malays, Chinese, Indians, and the bumi in Sabah and Sarawak) will be fighting tooth and nail to send their children there. In one scoop, we solve the national unity issue while at the same time bring the state of the art English education to our children.
This country need English education not just because the language is an international language. It is also a language that will bring about change in mindset of our people. Most people in this country are parochial, easily subjugated and manipulated because they are ignorant. English is a conduit to internationalism, cosmopolitanism and liberalism. Let’s not be hypocrite about it. Most of us are longing to move away from our present stifling and feudalistic environment.
Why do think the aristocratic class and the ruling elites are so power and domineering? Simple, it is because the people in general are stupid and ignorant.
Hello, SpeakUp @ loose ball II, stop acting like you are LKS. It is not your job to respond to everybody here.
Why are there no English-medium national schools? Is it prohibited, or is it just a question of state funding? I assume there must be some demand for it: I see lots of posters around the area I live in offering tuition in ‘a good english’.
Limkaput … eeerrr … this is called a forum, anyone is free to post. I believe many were asking for freedom of speech. Maybe you can report me to LKS and see what he does. Get me banned la … can or not? :)
Orang Rojak … there are some, its called INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS, about RM8K a term for some.
There were English-medium national schools up to middle of 1970s and after that all switched to National language as medium.
Nothing to do with state funding or lack thereof. If national language were dominant language it reflects dominance of majority group in the country. Language transmits cultural values hence national language facilitates assimilation of monorities by dominant group. Within centres of power within in civil service, courts, parliament, it ensures that members of the dominant group having advantage in their first language could be articulate in speech and writing in order to assert competence/dominance in every field within the country – and hopefully beyond in the ASEAN region. It is pride. The excuse is of course national unity forged from fluency and ease of communication via common language binding all. The imperatives of globalization requring English is important but not important enough to override imperatives of dominance through language.
Can Malaysians send their children to International Schools? I have a feeling OnPol has said something about this before… something to do with ministers and a ruling that was easily bent.
Is it possible for any tom, dick or harry to set up an english medium school, funds permitting? I imagine there are problems with exams – are there english-language versions of all the Malaysian National exams? If it’s not funding, as Jeffrey says, then why aren’t there more English medium schools for those who would prefer it? Or is the demand not hat great, except among commenters on LKS’ blog?
another flip flop?
I know those La Salle brother schools were all turned into BM schools in terms of education. I came from one. You can go to Garden International school … in KL … you also have Alice Smith and more. Penang has Uplands International etc.
OrangRojak:
International schools in this country are meant for foreigners only. However, Malaysians may be admitted to these schools if (a) their parents are returning from a foreign assignment and the kids are unable to adapt to the local system or (b) the parents are likely to be posted overseas by way of corporate rotation. The other, unwritten, exception is of course that the Minister may approve each case on its own merits.
Yes, you can set up your own private school affiliated to the UK’s GCSE curriculum or the Australian curriculum, but the average Malaysian will not be able to enrol in your school – even assuming that they can afford the fees.
So Godfather, are there official Tamil and Mandarin curricula in Malaysia? International schools solve the curriculum problem simply, but I can’t imagine there is no education professional in Malaysia who could come up with a reasonable English-language curriculum for local English-medium schools.
I’m struggling to understand why there are so many foreign-language-medium schools of 2 kinds, but none (that I know of) of any other. Why would the fees for a non-{BM, Tamil, Mandarin) school be higher than for Tamil or Mandarin? Does it depend on more than supply and demand? Judging by my outdoor-dining experiences, I would have thought there would have been some demand for Bengali, Vietnamese and Burmese education streams.
“The imperatives of globalization requring English is important but not important enough to override imperatives of dominance through language.” (Jeffrey)
Jeffrey,
You may be trying to speak from the viewpoint of BN in the matter of choosing Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction in Malaysia’s schools. However, for a vast majority of Chinese Malaysians, the economic prowessness of Mainland China and Taiwan had made them decide to send their children to study the Chinese Language in the National Type Chinese Primary School and the privately-run Chinese Independent Secondary School.
Did you ever notice that some Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Malaysia were only having 2,000 students during 1970s but their student population had tremendously increased to about 8,000 heads as at todate? The economic value of an international language is still the major determinant factor which helps the parents to choose among different schools which use different languages as medium of instruction in the classrooms. The general trend in Malaysia is that most Chinese Malaysians will choose Chinese as the first language for their children while majority Malay parents will choose Bahasa Malaysia as the first language for their children. Only a small number of elite group people who live as an upper class people in Malaysia will choose English as the first language for their children and decide to send their children to study in the exhorbitant International School.
Najib Razak, Muhyiddin Yassin and Hishammuddin Hussein are all not qualified to make a decision to choose Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction in school because all these three hypocrites chose to send their children to study in the International School which used English as the medium of instruction. Why must they choose Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics subjects in the national secondary schools after 2012 when they themselves never trusted the National Schools which used Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction?
“Yes, you can set up your own private school affiliated to the UK’s GCSE curriculum or the Australian curriculum, but the average Malaysian will not be able to enrol in your school – even assuming that they can afford the fees.” (Godfather)
Godfather is saying the truth. This may be the reason why each morning of school days we can find that in Johor Bahru there are thousands of Malaysian primary school children boarding on school buses crossing over to Singapore for attending a Singapore primary school or an international school in Singapore. The Malaysian educational policy has caused a lot of outflow in international currency exchanges for Malaysia.
Mahathir is right. The study and teaching of Maths and Science should be in the English language.
Language is only a tool. We want the best tool. That is why the elite and the rich in this country buy Benz, BMW or RR. Are they less loyal than those who buy Proton . No. Hence those with money will always want the best tool for their children.
Language is only a tool. Do not turn it into an ideology.
Using English to teach science and mathematics was half baked measure that did not really help the student to have better English, neither was it able to make them excel in science and mathematics. In fact, in most Chinese schools, English was hardly used at all because students were able to continue to use Chinese in official exam.
What is the point of having an official policy but no body is following it? Surely the policy was not effective at all.
To solve all the problems, just bring back the English schools.
Mahathir will not be always right! Some Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Malaysia did produce some prominent scientists who were being employed by some top universities in the western countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. However, those scientists who studied Science and Mathematics with the Chinese Language as the medium of instruction during the secondary school had proven that international language such as Chinese or English is the best language of learning for Science and Mathematics subjects in primary school and secondary school.
In order to qualify as an international language, the language itself must have adequate phrases in order to generate newly invented terminology in the field of Science and Mathematics. Both Chinese and English are qualified in this aspect but according to Tun Dr Mahathir’s several examples cited in his blogsite, it seems that Bahasa Malaysia fails to become an effective communication language because there are simply inadequate phrases in Bahasa Malaysia which can tell the differences among the following English phrases:
• Oxygenation
• Oxidation
• Oxide
• Oxidants
• Deoxydation
• Oxidise
• Oxidification
• Dioxide
• Monoxide
• Peroxide
BN Cabinet has made a questionable decision on requiring the secondary schools to use Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics!
Why are we oscillating – BM, BI and then BM? Simple, this is a half baked nation managed by half baked leaders who made decisions based on half baked and jaundiced views of NGOs, vested interested groups and organisations. When are we going to have the tenacity to do the right things rather than continue to do things to please all these half baked and archaic organisations?
If we continue to govern based on polls and public opinions, we can get no where. Please, leadership is about the ability and tenacity to do the right things. Check out Singapore’s LKY and see the number of unpopular but right decisions he had made for Singapore.
Language is only a tool. Do not turn it into an ideology. (Ramesh Laxman)
Ramesh is right. Language is only a tool. However, some language is a much more effective tool than the other language. Why did Ramesh think that the Indian people of the India subcontinent wanted to choose English, instead of other native language of Indian people, as the official language? Is it not because that English is a much more effective communication language and easy-to-learn language which makes it qualify to be an international language? I favour any international language be chosen as an medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics, whether it is English, French, German, Spanish, or Chinese!
Even though I favour any international language be chosen as an medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics, there is a precondition which must be met before a choice of international language has been made for our poor school children who already have too heavy a burden in their school work.
During the primary school stage, most Malaysian children are still too weak in verbal and written skill in language. Therefore it is best for the primary school students to use as much mother tongue of theirs as possible for learning anything in school.
However, when the school children have entered the stage of secondary school, they are deemed to have a good command of their mother tongue already. Therefore there should have no more need for the secondary school students to spend too much time on learning their mother tongue except for cases that the students want to choose the literature of their own mother tongue as the major course of study in the stage of university study. Since there is a new need arisen during the stage of secondary education, the students are required to learn at least an international language such as English or Chinese in order for them to build up the competitiveness in order to compete with the international business world in global economy. Therefore, it is advisable for the Federal Government to set an educational policy which requires using an international language such as English or Chinese as the medium of instruction for learning Science and Mathematics in secondary school with immediate effect (don’t delay until 2012 because it is tonight and not tommorrow that the cow needs to come home before it gets stolen).
Did they ever ask the students?
No.
Did they ask the teachers?
No.
Did they even finish the experiment?
No.
They asked a bunch of statistics.
“are there official Tamil and Mandarin curricula in Malaysia?” asked OrangRojak
Yes, these are the so-called vernacular schools (state-funded) catering to the fanatical Chinese and Indian minorities where subjects are taught in the mother tongue. Then there are privately funded secondary schools which also teach in the mother tongue (so far the only ones I can think of are Chinese) whose qualifications are recognised by Taiwan.
Do we have the capabilities to draft our own English curriculum ? I would think so, but maybe with the assistance of some advisers from the UK or Australia. Will the government agree to it ? Unlikely, because (a) the teaching profession has been so badly corrupted by years of neglect and lack of meritocracy that it would take another decade to put things right and (b) the swing from the other schools to these English schools would be so great that the dislocations would not be controllable (see Mahathir’s poll).
I think the rules restricting locals from enrolling in international schools will be relaxed gradually, but of course the long term effect would be the creation of another category of have vs have-nots.
We should respect the decision of the Cabinet. This is not an easy decision but I am glad that UMNO has the courage to abandon the policy finally. This decision will serve to benefit all the races. We should not choose to criticise the government because no one expected it. The policy has been tested and it has proved to be a failure so the best is to go back to the original policy as it has served Malaysia well in the past 30 years. If you look at Indian, Korea, Japan and even China, they do not teach these two subjects in English but they still can emerge to be a strong nation. So why can’t Malaysia do it?
//If you look at Indian, Korea, Japan and even China, they do not teach these two subjects in English but they still can emerge to be a strong nation. So why can’t Malaysia do it?//
That is because Malaysia has too many morons like you, got it?
Dear Kits
This is all political to satisfy those who cannot compete! BM as a language of the world for a population of 26 Million? or we try to include the indonesian and Bruneian?
Let us have a choice, and let the market decide what is best. Not a few Egoistic MORON!
http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/2009/07/freedom-of-choice-for-education.html
Shiok Guy
to kasim amat…..
i was educated in malaysia school using english in all subjects except bm and chinese. does that qualify me to be a FAILURE PRODUCT!!!???
if you say so and is 100% sure all students should be taught in bm, i challenge you to a trip to taiwan or even india with me using english and you using bm to communicate .
learning more languages is wise but it must be learned and taught properly. some students failed bcs they have un-qualified english teachers !!! even if you ask a chinese to teach jawi,he will go no-where bcs he’s BLANK with that language & in turn, his students will be as stupid as him.
wake up,kasim. don’t be like the fish in the bowl. jump out and dare to face the challenge of the real world when it comes to knowledge and languages !!!
If you look at Indian, Korea, Japan and even China, they do not teach these two subjects in English but they still can emerge to be a strong nation. So why can’t Malaysia do it? – Kasim Amat
I would your clarifications on a few of your points.
1. Is it true that in India, English is not the medium of instructions for Science and Maths? Would you please provide references to collude with this point of yours.
2. Is is true that the power of China and Korea is related to their teaching of the Science and Maths in their mother tongue?
Another consideration is a multi-lingual country like Singapore. Can Singapore be considered a failure because they teach Science and Maths in English?
Is the teaching of Science and Maths in English the critical factor in the degree of success between Singapore and Malaysia. I like to hear about Singapore-Malaysia comparison because as dissimilar as they are, there are still a significant degree of similarities.
Keen to hear the forums opinions on these points raised.
Thanks.
I would your clarifications on a few of your points.
oops typo above.
I would like your clarifications on a few of your points. This is directed to Kasim Amat.
… in line with national aspirations to be internationally competitive to become high-income nation
High income nation? Malaysia? When? 2020? 2030? 2120?
Sorry, but I really do not see this coming to pass any time soon.
Mahathir’s chedet blog shows 85% disapproval of the discontinuation of PPSMI. Superficially, it would appear that people have overwhelming supported PPSMI as though it was the only sensible approach to improving the standards of English language. The poll as it was constructed on a simple yes and no answer has not catered for the choice of yes-but, or no-but.
The students who had been made to accept PPSMI over the past 6 years had gotten used to the English term, and they certainly do not want to switch language midway. But PPSMI is not about the preference of those who have been in it. It has to take into consideration of the choice if the students had not been forced into it.
Students in the secondary schools might have been able to accept PPSMI because they had sufficient grounding of the language to follow the teaching in English.
But PPSMI is definitely a bad policy for primary school. Those who had supported the reversal of PPSMI are parents in the primary schools. There are necessarily smaller in number who would vote on TDM’s blog. It is to be expected that students who are in the secondary schools would prefer status quo. Further, it has been generally accepted that English is important because of its wide reach and use in all spheres of live. Voters are worried that a reversal of PPSMI would see the rise of Bahasa Malaysia nationalism, as TDM wanted to convert the technical issue into ideological dispute.
The government is certainly right to oppose PPSMI for primary schools. If they still accept that it is the lack of teachers who could conduct proper oral teaching in English, then they should modify it to accept the use of English textbooks, but allow the teachers to choose the medium of oral instruction in secondary schools. Students should be given a choice to answer them in either language, English or BM.
Taiwan adopted English text books for science and mathematics since 1950s, and students from Taiwan went on to collect Nobel prizes. That should be the revised PPSMI the government should look into.
LKS,
PKR seems to be think PPSMI is total rubbish hence wants it to be abolished immediately. DAP seems to be thinking otherwise. PAS has been suspiciously quiet on this matter.
As PR is putting themselves up to lead the government, care to share what is PR’s collective stand on this matter? And oh yes, please don’t make excuses and say that PR members can agree to disagree on matters compared to BN. Such `excuses’ don’t work when you are leading a country – you must come to a consensus and make a decision or else the state will stagnate!